To Meet A Need
by Garrett02
Summary: Peter Parker needs a mentor.
1. Chapter 1 - Reflections

**A/N: After Infinity War I found myself very much on the IronDad and SpiderSon bandwagon. Infinity War left me feeling like there was a giant 2 year hole in the story. Surely Tony and Peter saw each other in between Homecoming and Infinity War. My brain started filling in some of the gaps. I debated putting them "on paper" but more and more tidbits started populating in my brain. Then EndGame happened. And, after my brain stopped mourning, it hit me that why can't my little 2 year snippets take place in the 2014 timeline - you know, the one that Thanos abandoned when he followed Nebula. So, my brain kept working and my little snippets started to take the form of a little bit more of a story. I think they're still slightly disjointed and I have no dabbled in fanfiction in 20 years (yep - dating myself), but nonetheless a story was born.**

* * *

He thought he had handled it well. He didn't have a lot of practice being told no. In fact, other than Pepper (and occasionally an Avenger or two), Tony couldn't remember the last time anyone had actually told him "No". Offers to be an Avenger weren't often made. Actually, they were never made, it just seemed to happen. Maybe that was the problem, he was trying to force the issue when every other time it had occurred naturally. He was pretty sure that they never really sat down and decided to form the Avengers, despite Fury's "initiative". They just all saw the threat facing them and reacted. Then something else would happen and they reacted and they just kept reacting - as a team. It was by sheer dumb luck that they had been somewhat successful. And then even worse luck that there had been too many casualties along the way. The events of the last couple months were enough to convince him that they were never a team. They were just doing what they thought was right...as long as it didn't conflict with their own personal interest. But the kid, the kid was different. He didn't seem to have "personal interest" other than helping people. No one was that selfless.

Tony had two modes - fly by the seat of your pants and figure it out as you go or learn everything you can about the subject before engaging. When it came to recruiting the kid he landed on the 2nd mode. FRIDAY had pulled everything she could on the kid before he recruited him...something he woefully regretted at this point. In his defense, he really hadn't expected a fight. He thought cooler heads would prevail and reason would be seen. He had been wrong. And he hated being wrong. He thought back over the details FRIDAY had spit out. Kids' parents had died in a plane crash. Lived with his Aunt and Uncle afterwards. Father had been a scientist which explained the kids' smarts. Because yes, he had also pulled the kids' grades as well. Straight A's in advanced classes except for a brief dip about 8 months ago. The kid had mentioned something about "it" happening about 8 months ago and that was also about the same time his Uncle had been killed. Overall, he was shocked the kid wasn't a walking disaster. He certainly was at 15 and had much less emotional trauma. Now he was curious. What kid turns down joining the Avengers. But truth be told he also wanted to know how the kid had brought down his plane.

"FRIDAY, search through all cameras for facial recognition of Peter Parker from last Friday. I want to reconstruct a timeline of the kids' actions leading up to the plane crash."

It only took FRIDAY a couple hours to piece together a timeline. Traffic cameras, security cameras, and general surveillance cameras picked up way more than people realized. FRIDAY had also traced the kid's cell phone signal so it helped narrow down where to look. "FRIDAY, start when he left for the Homecoming dance". So he watched. He watched as his Aunt dropped him off at the girl Liz's house and watched him nervously approach the door. He glanced at the address that showed up on the map overlay and swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. Toomes. Peter Parker's date to Homecoming was the daughter of the man he had chased down and captured. Of course it was. Because the kid couldn't just go to a high school dance with a girl he liked.

Tony looked at the path the car took wondering how uncomfortable the kid was during that ride. There's no way Toomes could have known it was him. Pete was actually pretty good at keeping his identity a secret, surprisingly considering how much he talked. He could imagine the kid trying not to squirm and failing miserably. Maybe Toomes said something during the car ride to tip Pete off about his plans to hijack the plane. Tony kept watching as the the cameras outside the school picked up the girl getting out of the car. Tony waited for Pete to alight and he didn't...at least not at first. Tony leaned forward and stared at the look on the kids' face when he finally got out of the car. "FRIDAY freeze video". Panic seeped into Tony. Toomes knew who he was. You could tell by the look on Pete's face. The kid covered it well but Tony recognized the fear that was just under the surface. Was that why the kid went after him? Why in the hell had Toomes even let him out of the car? Tony sat back deep in thought. The more he thought he knew that wasn't why the kid went after him. It's what Tony would have done but the kid wasn't Tony. The kid was a little more noble than that.

"Boss, Mr Parker's cell phone and facial recognition take different routes from this point". FRIDAY interrupted his thoughts as he brought his eyes back up to the frozen image on his screen. He stared into the eyes that barely masked fear. Then he saw something else - the steely determination that overshadowed the fear. Some people would have missed it but it was a look that he was familiar with because it was a look that had stared back at him before.

"FRIDAY, where does Peter's phone stop?" The reply was quick, "A warehouse approximately 8 miles from the school". Tony frowned. "FRIDAY, stay with Peter. Where do you pick him up next?".

Video started playing in front of him of Peter in his ridiculous sweatpants and hoodie running out of the rear of the school only to see him thrown into a bus moments later. Correction, a bus was thrown into him. What the hell? The guy was obviously using alien hybrid tech. The kid didn't stand a chance without any protection. Guilt swarmed over Tony. The kid didn't have any protection because he had taken it away from him. And from the looks of it, he had lost his web-shooters after the first hit. Finally the alien weapon was webbed up. Except it wasn't Pete using the web shooter, it was his friend - Ned? "FRIDAY, make a note to dig into Pete's friend." He had helped Pete hack his suit, released the Training Wheels Protocol, and is apparently good in an emergency. "We might need to hire him when he's out of high school." Maybe before at the rate he was going...from what Tony had seen so far, between Pete and his friend, they could give most of the junior techs at SI a run for their money.

The kid darted out of the camera view of the school and Tony's eyes focused on a new image of Spider-Man driving, although driving may not have been the correct word, a convertible Audi. He needed to remember not to let the kid drive until he could teach him a little bit better. Frowning to himself he wondered where in the hell that idea came from. Him teaching someone to drive was ludicrous. Finally the kid did as much damage as he could to the car and abandoned it to run into a warehouse in the Brooklyn Industrial Sector. The video skipped ahead to someone leaving the building Pete had walked into. Tony watched the video from the security camera across the street as Toomes exited the building and held his breath as he waited for Pete to exit. Except he didn't. Tony watched as the building collapsed knowing that Peter was inside.

"Boss, your heart rate and respiration are increasing. Should I call someone?". Tony fought to keep the panic he could feel rising tamped down. He kept reminding himself that he had just seen the kid that day. He was fine. No bruising. No broken bones. But that didn't reconcile to the fact that a warehouse had collapsed on top of him. And again the thought hit him that he had left him without a suit. Not that it would have helped protect him from the rubble that rained down on him. But still, the kid was in sweatpants and a hoodie. If he'd been in the suit he would have had a way to call for help. Maybe he had gotten out another way, before the building collapsed. Holding onto that thought he forced his breathing to slow down which in turn slowed his heart down. "Don't call anyone. I'm fine". Closing his eyes for a moment he opened them just in time to see a very battered Peter Parker running from the rubble, fling a web, and disappear from view. The image of Pete running from the building confirmed Tony's original suspicion that he had been inside when it collapsed and it made him sick to his stomach.

"Boss, there is no additional footage of Mr. Parker until after the plane crash". Tony pulled up the plane's data read outs and scanned through them. His eyes stopped when he looked at the trajectory changes right before it crashed. It had been headed straight towards Brooklyn but had changed course at the last minute. Tony studied the mechanical readings. The flaps had been moved not by their internal mechanisms but by an external force. Tony took a deep breath as he realized what that meant. The kid hasn't been in the plane...he had been outside of the plane. He could imagine him pulling on the webs as hard as he had on the ferry as if willing the plane to turn in an effort to save lives. He watched the video feed FRIDAY had pulled from Coney Island as the plane crashed on the beach. Rubbing his hand over his face he kept reminding himself that he had just seen Pete and he was very much alive and uninjured. He made a mental note to dig into the kids ability to heal. It seemed to be even quicker than a certain Super Soldier that he knew. He mentally rolled through Steve's various challenges...pain killers that didn't work, sedatives that didn't work, he was sure there were others but pushed it into another section of his brain as disjointed images rolled across the screen pulled from various cameras that managed to capture footage until the last frame froze on Pete's face as he sat atop the roller coaster. A face normally so animated was now streaked with blood, bruises, and burns. Panic set in. He had done this to the kid. He has taken away his suit and made him think he was on his own. He didn't hear FRIDAY'S inquiries as to his increasing heart rate. All he could focus on was how hurt Pete was and that he was the cause of it.

* * *

"Colonel Rhodes, Mr. Stark requires your assistance." Rhodey sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "What's the problem FRIDAY?"

"Mr. Stark is in the middle of what appears to be a panic attack and does not seem to be able to calm himself down".

Rhodey exited the elevator and let FRIDAY direct him to Tony. Kneeling down in front of him he took Tony's hand and pressed it against his chest taking deep slow breaths. "Tony, I need you to look at me. I need you to breathe." Tony's panicked eyes raised and locked onto Rhodey's eyes. He slowly started to match his breathing to Rhodey's. Unfortunately they had practice. As his breathing slowed his heart stopped feeling like it was going to beat out of his chest. After what seemed like forever he felt himself come back from the edge that these attack's always brought him to. Rhodey was the first to break the silence.

"I was worried you were going to backtrack on all of your progress with these attacks after Siberia. What set this one off?"

Tony shook his head. "This has nothing to do with Siberia. He glanced at the kids battered face and felt Rhodey's eyes follow. "Jesus, is that the kid? What happened?" Rhodey continued looking at the screen. "Is that the plane crash? That was just a couple days ago. The kid was just here today." The confusion was apparent in Rhodey's voice.

Tony stood up and started pacing. "Healing factor? Maybe? Doesn't matter. I did this. I am the reason a 15 year old kid missed his homecoming dance, had his date's father try to kill him by collapsing a building on him, and then singlehandedly stopped his dates' dad who is apparently an arms dealer from taking what could only be described as the mother load of weapons and technology."

Rhodey sat down, his braces giving a slow hiss as they released. Manipulating the video he ran it back to see for himself what had set Tony off. "Ok, for starters, you didn't do this. If I remember correctly you took the suit because you were trying to keep him from doing shit like this."

Tony set his jaw and ground out "But he did it anyway."

Rhodey sat back and looked between the screen frozen on a 15 year old's battered face and the face of his much older best friend. "Yeah he did. He did exactly what you didn't want him to do. Sound familiar?"

Tony snapped his eyes back to Rhodey. "I'm assuming you're choosing now to bring up some of my less brilliant ideas. That is not going to help. How am I going to stop the kid from doing stupid, life risking things out of some misguided sense of right and wrong?".

Rhodey sighed, "You're not. You never listened to me when I told you not to do stupid, life risking shit".

Tony threw himself back into the chair next to Rhodey's and out his hand over his eyes. "You cannot seriously be comparing the two of us. He's just a kid. A smart and ridiculously capable kid, but a kid none the less. I certainly don't fall in the category of self sacrificing vigilante hero." As the words fell out of his mouth he saw Rhodey smile. "You mean the hero who flew a nuclear warhead into a wormhole?" Tony scowled, "It was a one time lapse of judgement. The kid had a building fall on him and still went after the guy."

Rhodey's grin grew even bigger, "One word...Malibu."

"Shit." Tony stood up and started pacing again. Opening his mouth to counter Rhodey's comparison, he shut it just as quickly when Rhodey cut him off.

"And, I can think of at least three girlfriend's dads who have tried to kill you. Tony, face it, the reason you're having so much of a problem with this is that you see yourself in him. Hell, I saw that when you showed me his file after Germany." Rhodey paused to let what he said sink in before continuing. "The kid doesn't need someone to tell him not to do something. He needs someone to teach he how to do the things he's going to do anyway. He needs a mentor."

"I am the furthest thing from being able to be someone's mentor. In fact there are probably quite a few people who would say that I should not be around children...ever." Tony continued pacing because as much as he hated to admit it, Rhodey was right. The kid was not going to stay close to the ground and just help the little guy. He was going to take whatever was thrown at him and unfortunately the world they lived in meant the things being thrown at him could fight back against him, no matter how enhanced he was. "Crap." Tony turned to face Rhodey. "Why don't you mentor him. You're a great role model."

Rhodey laughed. "I've already mentored my genius risk taker." Tony frowned even more realizing Rhodey was right. The kid just needed someone to mentor him. Unfortunately it seemed like the kids' only option was going to be a genius billionaire that suffered from panic attacks and was barely holding his life together. He looked up at the image of Peter and saw his own eyes mirrored in the innocent ones sporting bruises and cuts and hoped that he could somehow be worthy enough to keep the kid from getting himself killed.

* * *

Peter's phone buzzed as he was getting off the subway, headed to school. Two and a half weeks ago he had been excited about taking Liz to Homecoming, a little over two weeks ago he had turned down a spot with the Avengers. He was still wondering if he had made the right decision. When he glanced down he saw an unknown number with the message "Want to come by the lab after school? I have some ideas for your web-shooters. We can order pizza. TS". A grin spread across Peter's face. Did Mr. Stark just ask him to come work on his web shooters? He quickly typed "I'd love to. Need to ask Aunt May". He had a response within seconds. "I called her to ask. She yelled at me for a solid 5 minutes before relenting. I'll pick you up after school." Peter's grin quickly turned into a frown. Aunt May had yelled at Mr. Stark? But she was going to let him work in his lab. He hovered over the keys and finally typed "K". He'd text Aunt May at lunch just to make sure but not even Flash could put a damper on his day. He was going to get to spend the afternoon working with his hero.


	2. Chapter 2 - Lab Time

Tony drummed his fingers mindlessly on the steering wheel waiting for 2:45 to show up on the clock. He was starting to rethink this whole mentoring thing. Surely he could find someone a little better suited to help the kid. Unfortunately his options were limited. He wasn't speaking to most of his former "colleagues". Maybe he could locate Bruce. Bruce would be perfect. If he only knew where he was. The distinct sound of a bell rang and a few minutes later kids poured out of the school. Tony debated getting out of the car to wait but decided against it. Last thing either one of them needed was a scene. He saw Peter walk down the steps of the school, backpack slung over his shoulder. He was flanked by Ned and a girl Tony didn't know. Making a mental note to figure out who she was he watched the kid do some kind of elaborate handshake and glance over at the black Audi. Turning back to the girl he said something, then turned and walked toward the car.

Peter grabbed the door handle, opened the door, and slid into the front seat. "Hey, Mr. Stark!"

"Hey kid." Tony used the distraction of navigating through the sea of cars to figure out what to say next. It was unsettling. He always knew what to say. Usually it was a lot of words that either provided a distraction to what he was actually doing or just a lot of words making people think he was engaged when really he was saying nothing. He found himself not wanting to be that _Tony Stark_. Finally pulling into traffic he glanced over. The kid was fidgeting. Before he knew what he was doing he opened his mouth. "Aunt May said to make sure you got your homework done before we, and I quote 'play in the lab'".

A grin spread across the the kid's face at the idea of 'playing in the lab'. "I did my Biology homework in Chemistry and MJ helped me with my English Lit homework at lunch. Everything else I did in class."

"Who's MJ?" Tony asked before his brain caught up to his mouth. "And why aren't you doing Chemistry in Chemistry?"

"I usually make web fluid in Chemistry. I already know what we're doing in Chemistry so I might as well be productive. MJ is a friend. She's the captain of our Academic Decathlon team. English Lit is her favorite subject. So she doesn't mind trading out help. I review Physics with her so she can prep for tests. It works out." Peter shifted his backpack between his feet before settling back in the seat again.

Tony had almost let out a snort at the kids' comment about Chemistry but held back when he realized there was not a trace of ego in the comment. Peter was simply stating a fact. Yet another thing that was so foreign to him. He had always liked being the smartest one in the room and liked making sure everyone knew it even more. His brain shifted over to MJ and figured that's who had walked out with Peter and Ned. "Ok, so no homework. Any tests you need to study for?" He mentally went down the list May had given him.

"No tests for a couple weeks". As if reading his mind, or maybe just being too familiar with Aunt May's "list", Peter added "No reports or projects on the horizon, and yes, I ate lunch. Although I can't say chicken fingers are my favorite school lunch". Peter wrinkled his nose at the memory of the bland chicken fingers and glanced over at Tony. "Anything else on her list?"

Tony chuckled, "No, kid, I think we covered it all. Bring your suit?"

Peter patted his backpack as he nodded. "What kind of upgrades did you have in mind?"

They talked web-shooter design until FRIDAY interrupted and Tony realized it had been almost 45 minutes and they were near the compound. "Boss, you asked me to remind you to order pizza before we arrived at the compound. Would you like to order the usual?"

"What do you want on your pizza kid?"

"Umm...everything but mushrooms?"

"FRIDAY, four large pizzas, everything but mushrooms."

The compound was just as impressive as it was when Happy had brought him out a couple weeks ago. Tony walked him through a completely different door than before. As they entered, FRIDAY'S voice piped through speakers Peter assumed were cleverly disguised in the ceiling. "Pizza will be here in 45 minutes. Peter, welcome back to the Avengers compound."

"Thanks FRIDAY". Peter looked over at Tony hoping he didn't have the look of a star struck teenager on his face.

"FRIDAY is installed throughout the compound. So, if you ever need anything just ask her. She'll be able to hear you."

Peter nodded, eyes still taking in everything around him.

"So, we just came through my private entrance. Perks of designing everything. Just about everyone else has to either go through the main entrance or there's a couple more secure side entrances." Tony led him down an open hallway. "Living quarters are down that hall, although mine are upstairs. There's a main common area and kitchen too." Tony kept walking towards an elevator bank. The doors slid open as they reached them.

Peter figured FRIDAY controlled access there as well. Once inside Peter realized there were no buttons. Tony caught his eye. "FRIDAY, take us to my lab."

"FRIDAY is by far the coolest thing you've done." Peter grinned at Tony as the elevator began to move. "She's in your suit, in your car, in the building." Tony chuckled. "You know most people would say the Iron Man suit or the multi-billion dollar company. But, I have to say I somewhat agree with you."

The doors slid open and Peter's jaw dropped at the sight of the glass wall in front of him. He followed Tony out of the elevator and walked with him through the glass door that slid open. Two bots whirled to life and beeped a greeting. "That's DUM-E and U." He paused and turned to Peter. "This is Peter. He has full access when I'm here. DUM-E, show Peter what you set up for him." Tony leaned back on one of the tables and watched DUM-E push Peter in front of the workstation the bots had put together.

Peter eyed the set up in front of him. All of the chemicals he used for the webs plus a few others. A holographic interface popped up when DUM-E pushed a button. "That's awesome DUM-E. Thanks!" Peter turned to look at the bot that was whirling joyfully next to him. Not to be left out, U made its way over and patted Peter on the back.

"Ok, back to work you two. You can't keep him and you can't distract him." Tony pushed himself away from the table and walked over to where Peter stood watching the bots mournfully move away from him. "Mr. Stark, this is amazing."

"Of course it is. It's me. Now let's get to work on those web shooters."

It felt like they had barely started working when the glass door slid open. Peter looked over and froze. Tony followed Peter's gaze, "Rhodey, did you hijack our pizza?"

"I showed up the same time your pizza did. I told FRIDAY I'd deliver them. Which means you have to feed me too." Rhodey set the pizza down on the table by the door and looked at Peter. "I'm Rhodey. You must be Peter."

"Uh, yes sir." Peter stammered a response. "You're War Machine." Peter slid in front of the web shooter that was in pieces on the workstation.

"Relax Underoos, he knows." Tony walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a water and tossed it to Rhodey. "Gatorade or water?"

"Gatorade." Tony threw a Gatorade over his shoulder and Peter snatched it out of the air his eyes still on the new arrival. "Colonel Rhodes, it's nice to meet you." Peter crossed the room and extended his hand, "I didn't get to actually meet you before."

"You can call me Rhodey. Don't let Tony corrupt you. You definitely have better manners than he does. What are you working on?"

Tony grabbed a slice of pizza and listened to Peter explain what they were trying to do.

"Tony gave you taser webs?" Rhodey asked, baffled at the 500 web combinations Peter was scrolling through.

"Yes. I can change the power setting but I generally keep it at the lowest setting so I know it's non-lethal." Peter paused and looked at a line of code. "What I want to try to figure out is how to do a delayed charge where I can kinda drop a web grenade and then trigger the electric pulse."

Rhodey looked between Peter and Tony, "When are you ever going to need that?"

"Well, I never thought I'd need taser webs but I actually end up using them quite a bit." Peter retorted.

"Plus, if the kid can figure it out, why shouldn't he?" Tony interrupted, looking over Peter's shoulder at the lines of code. The idea was Peter's and he was confident he'd get it worked out. And to be honest, the idea was pretty brilliant. He could think of a couple different times something like that would come in handy.

Rhodey shook his head. "You two are way too much alike. You've seen Jurassic Park, right? Wasn't there some kind of line about just because you can do something doesn't mean you should?"

Peter laughed, "The actual line was 'your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.' In this case, I'm not creating a dinosaur, I'm creating electro pulse web grenades."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Good luck with your project kid. Tony, remember your call with the General tomorrow." Grabbing a piece of pizza he walked through the door waiving over his head.

* * *

Tony eased his car next to the curb, looked at the clock on the dashboard and then over at Peter. He had thought about bringing up the subject a couple times on the way to Peter's apartment but stopped every time. He didn't want the ride to be awkward. "Well, we made it with 5 minutes to spare." He paused. Why on earth was this so hard. "I was thinking, how would you like to make this a weekly thing? You don't have decathlon practice on Wednesday's, right?"

Peter's eyes widened, "Really Mr. Stark? I would love that!"

Tony let out an inward sigh of relief. "I'll call May tomorrow and talk to her about it."


	3. Chapter 3 - Training

Wednesday's with Mr. Stark were amazing. The first couple weeks they mainly worked on Peter's suit or web-shooters. There was always some kind of new feature that Mr. Stark had come up with in the week since Peter had last seen him. This last week was focused on repairing some damage the suit had taken, which was a lot less fun since Peter got to sit, observe, get checked out by the on-staff doctor in MedBay, and then listen to an hour long lecture on the way home about unnecessary risks and the need to call for backup. That Wednesday wasn't as much fun but Mr. Stark made up for it by texting him the next morning and asking if he wanted to spend Friday night at the compound since May was working late. Peter was starting to wonder exactly how much May and Mr. Stark talked. Every time Peter texted to confirm something, May responded that she had already talked to Tony and that it was fine.

So Friday after school, Peter pulled his overnight bag out of his locker and headed outside. Happy was waiting by the curb. Not unusual, Mr. Stark didn't always pick him up. Happy driving meant that Peter could finish up some homework that he hadn't been able to finish earlier. Peter was sliding his history book back in his backpack as they pulled up to the compound. Happy called from the front, "Grab your suit and head to the gym. I'll take your bags to your room."

"Ok Happy. Thanks!" The gym was new. They almost always went straight to the lab. Suit and mask in hand Peter headed to the nearest elevator. "FRIDAY? Happy told me to go to the gym. Any idea which one?"

"Boss is waiting for you in the training gym. I suggest you change in the locker room and then head into the gym."

"Thanks FRIDAY." Peter exited the elevator and was changed and entering the gym within 5 minutes. "Whoa...". Peter froze when he got a look at the gym. Iron Man and War Machine were maneuvering steel beams into place.

Hovering 20 feet up in the air, Tony flipped his face mask back and called down, "Hey Underoos. We're doing something a little bit different today. Rhodey's going to try to shoot you down."

War Machine fastened the last beam into place and landed on the ground next to Peter. Tony landed a few seconds later. "The goal of today is for us to see how you function with an airborne foe. Your goal is to get from one side of the gym to the other without Rhodey shooting you down. I'm observing. We'll assess after the first round. Got it?"

"I have to swing from this side to that side without Rhodey shooting me down. Got it." Peter suspected this was going to be harder than it seemed.

War Machine lifted back up, "Don't worry kid, no live rounds. Tony rigged up some kind of low voltage electro pulse. FRIDAY'S recording so we can check hits." He zoomed up and disappeared behind one of the beams.

Tony lifted off. "Whenever you're ready."

Peter pulled his mask on and nodded. Taking a deep breath he took aim at one of the lower beams and flipped his way higher. "Karen, can you tell where War Machine is?"

"Negative Peter. FRIDAY is masking his heat signature."

Peter concentrated on his next swing. His Spidey-sense told him to roll to the right just in time to avoid a shot from War Machine. Tucking his legs in he flipped over and shot a web in the opposite direction, taking him away from another blast. He felt the web break free and shot another one just in time to keep from slamming into the beam. Definitely harder than it seemed. His Spidey-senses triggered telling him to move in multiple directions at once. He realized War Machine was utilizing rapid fire and he felt one of the blasts hit his hip and grimaced. He was three fourths of the way through the course. But, if he couldn't get away from War Machine he wasn't going to make it. He pulled himself skyward and arched back flipping over War Machine. Firing webs at the open gun ports he sealed both of them, then he shot a final web toward War Machine pinning him briefly to a beam. He knew it wouldn't hold but he thought it would buy him enough time to make it to the end. He shot a web that propelled him under War Machine. Flicking his wrist he shot another web that would take him to the end. War Machine broke free and fired off a shot that hit his right thigh as he flipped through the air and landed, then hit the ground as his leg gave out under him. He forced himself into a roll and landed in a crouch. He watched War Machine land in front him, webs still clinging to the gun ports and various parts of his armor. Tony landed next to him and flipped his face mask back. "You ok Pete?"

Rising to his feet, Peter pulled off his mask. "How'd I do?"

"Not bad. You made it through so that's better than not. Can you get these webs off?" War Machine's face plate slid back as he held up both arms, webs hanging off.

Peter slid off a glove and cleaned off the webs as much as he could. Once most of them were off, Rhodey slid the face mask back into place and took off to hide behind one of the beams for the second run.

"How do you feel? Up for another run?"

Peter nodded at Tony and slid his glove back on. "So critique me. What do I need to change?"

"You waited until you were almost through before you engaged. While my preference is always going to be for you to evade you need to get better at engaging. So, in the safety of a training arena where Rhodey is only trying to gently knock you down I want you to engage. Got it?"

Peter nodded and pulled the mask over his head. Tony lifted off again and Peter studied the beam configuration. Engagement. Web Rhodey up. "Karen, analyze War Machine's armor and attack style. Give me some options."

"Analyzing." A few moments later Karen spoke up. "Colonel Rhodes favors his right side for firing. He also tends to roll to the left when evading. I suggest focusing first on his right side gun ports then web him up when he's evading. You should be able to anticipate his movement."

"Ok. Easy." Peter flung a web and started moving his way through the gym. Karen was right, War Machine's did favor his right side guns. He was able to web up the ports but webbing War Machine was a little more challenging. He kept trying to hit him when he was trying to roll and kept missing because while War Machine may favor his right guns, it didn't mean he didn't use the left side ones. Focused on trying to web War Machine to take him out of play, Peter completely missed him firing at both the web holding his weight and then another round hit Peter in the shoulder. Landing flat on his back he opens his eyes and looked up at Iron Man staring down at him. "I'm better at evading," Peter grumbled.

"Yep, I don't need FRIDAY to play back anything to tell you what you did wrong. You asked Karen to analyze his weaknesses, which is good. Use the tools at your disposal. Then, you focused solely on what she said. That's bad."

Peter frowned and grabbed Iron Mans hand pulling himself up. "Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? The point of this is to give you some training. Want to go one more round before we break?"

Peter nodded and took off to the far end to start again. This time, he managed to engage quicker, still didn't succeed in stopping him, did a lot of scrambling to get away, but made it to the end quicker than he did the first time. Over all, it was a success but it wasn't pretty by any means.

Iron Man and War Machine landed in front of Peter who found himself leaning against the wall. Fighting, well, evading War Machine was exhausting. "Ok kid, change out of your suit. Rhodey and I are getting out of our armor. We'll meet you outside the locker room and head upstairs and find something to eat."

Peter pulled his mask off and headed for the locker room. Various parts of his body were still stinging from the low voltage hits. He hoped dinner was a little less combative. He pulled his jeans and t-shirt back on, grabbed his suit and headed to meet Rhodey and Mr. Stark. Getting out of armor was apparently easier than changing out of his Spider-Man suit because the two men were waiting for him.

They all entered the elevator and Mr. Stark directed FRIDAY to take him to his floor. Peter knew Rhodey had his own rooms on the floor below but also knew that usually when he was at the compound he spent most of his time either in conference rooms or with Tony so it didn't surprise Peter when they all arrived on Mr. Stark's floor. What did surprise him was when Mr. Stark directed him to a room that Peter thought was a guest room on Mr. Stark's floor. "I thought my room was downstairs? Next to Visions?"

Tony waived him off "Vision hasn't been spending a lot of time here and when he does he's still not understanding the whole wall and door thing. Thought you might be more comfortable on a floor with an actual person. Drop your suit in your room. We can debrief until dinner is ready."

Peter headed towards what was now apparently his room...at Avengers headquarters...down the hall from Iron Man's. His life was officially crazy. Opening the door he saw his bag on the bed. A bed that was bigger than his bed at home. In a room that was bigger than his and May's rooms put together. He walked into the adjoining bathroom which was about the size of his room at home and threw his suit over one of the towel racks. Heading back out to the main room he dropped into the stool next to Rhodey at the kitchen bar. "Need any help?"

Tony shook his head, "It'll be ready in about ten minutes." Covering a pot he turned to look at Peter. "So, what did you think about training?"

"It was awesome." Peter's enthusiasm was back. As worn out as he was, he had just trained with War Machine and Iron Man. "I mean I know I have a long way to go but I'm glad you let me do it."

Tony nodded, "That's kind of the point. You've got the right instincts and the spider side provides the skills. You just need to hone them a little bit. I talked to your aunt about trying to do a little more training on the hero side. She thinks anything that will help you not get hurt is a good thing." Tony thought the kid might explode. He was definitely up for training. "I thought we could work on some hand to hand combat too."

Peter's face fell a little, "I don't know if that's a good idea." Seeing the questioning look on Tony's face he continued. "Super strength is part of the package. I don't like hitting people." He paused and looked down. "I'm pretty sure I could kill them if I hit too hard."

"All the more reason to work on it. We can start in the morning with finding out exactly how strong you are." Seeing the apprehension on Peter's face he added, "No human targets." With that Tony turned back to the stove and turned off everything. A few minutes later the three of them were eating pasta with a sauce that had been in Tony's family for years with salad and garlic bread. Peter's plate was 3x larger than the other two. Which he finished plus two others. The kid ate like Steve did.

After they finished eating, Tony pulled up FRIDAY's video feed of the training runs and the three of them proceeded to pour over every detail pointing out the good and the bad. To Peter's surprise, Tony critiqued War Machine's performance almost as much as he did Peter's. They ended up pulling in video from multiple Avenger battles as well as Karen's feeds from some of Peter's. It started with proving to Rhodey that he did indeed prefer his right side and almost always rolled to the left.

It was well after midnight by the time everyone headed to their own rooms. Peter pulled pajama pants and a t-shirt out of his bag, brushed his teeth, and laid on the bed staring at the room around him. It was a little more customized than a normal guest room. He wondered when Mr. Stark had moved his room. Truth be told, he was glad he had. Mr. Stark's living area was a little more lived in compared to the almost sterile environment downstairs.

* * *

"Ok Pete, I told your aunt you'd be home before lunch so we only have a little bit of time. You said you don't hit people because you're afraid you'll hurt them, in order to figure out how to work around that I need to know how hard you can hit."

Peter was standing in front of a heavy bag looking dubious. "Mr. Stark, I'll break it."

"Good. I want you to break it." He had debated about giving the kids boxing gloves. Ultimately it was Peter who turned them down. The kid was scared to actually hit someone which might be ok with the low level criminals he dealt with most nights but the longer he did this the more of a chance there was that he was going to eventually get into situations where he'd need to not just evade but engage. And Tony wanted to make sure he was prepared for it. And that meant he had to know what the kid was capable of.

"Are you sure?" Peter asked still looking apprehensive.

"Yes." Tony's reply was definitive. He watched Peter get into a decent fighting stance although it could use improvement. Peter reared back his fist and gave a half punch, not quite enough to bring the bag down from where it was secured on the beam above it, but enough to tear a hole in the side of the bag.

"Ok, not bad. FRIDAY?" Tony looked at the damage to the bag.

"Analysis indicates that Peter did not use his full force."

Tony turned his head and looked at Peter. "Seriously?"

"Mr. Stark, ever since the bite I've held back. I snapped my toothbrush in half the first time I tried to brush my teeth." Peter looked at Mr. Stark pleadingly. "I don't know if I know how to not hold back."

Tony pulled him over to the heavy bag hanging next to the one he had just put a hole in. "Just try. I can't help if I don't know what I'm working with. I get that you don't want to hurt anyone and hope to God you're never in a situation where you do hurt someone. But if you continue to put yourself in harms way night after night something will eventually happen. It always does. I want to ensure that you can defend yourself. If I know what your max is we can work with biofeedback and figure out what is the best non-lethal approach."

Peter studied him, took a deep breath, and nodded. Back in a fighting stance, he reared his fist back and punched the bag. Not only was there a hole in the bag but it was ripped from the steel beam and laying 10 feet away from Peter.

"Ok. FRIDAY, analyze impact force and speed." Tony put his hand on Peter's shoulder and squeezed. "I get it. Now let me work on a solution."

* * *

Pepper walked into Tony's lab to find him studying a series of numbers on his screen. "Did Peter leave already?"

Tony looked up and watched Pepper cross the distance between the door and his desk. "His aunt wanted him home before lunch. I had Happy take him."

"Too bad, I wanted to spend some time with him. There aren't many people who can wrap you up the way he does." Looking at the screen closer she realized it was bio-metric data. "What are you working on?"

"Karen has noted that when Pete fights he never hits anyone directly. He's mastered the art of knocking someone out with anything other than his fist. It's compromised him a couple times. I had him punch a heavy bag to see how much force he has. The bag landed 10 feet away from him. He's terrified that he's going to hurt someone. I'm trying to fix it."

Pepper studies the data. "How did Steve not kill people when he hit them?"

Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. He had already come to the same place Pepper had. "Control. Practice. I don't know. I'm afraid bio-metric feedback is only going to help so much. I just don't know if I can handle the alternatives."

Pepper leaned down and kissed him on the head. "You'll work it out."


	4. Chapter 4 - Sick Day

"Dude, you look terrible".

Peter didn't lift his forehead off of the cool metal of the locker when Ned leaned against the row of lockers to look at him.

"Seriously, why are you here?" Ned grabbed Peter's books from under his arm as they started to slip. "Better yet, how are you here? You definitely have a fever and should probably be in bed."

The warning bell rang and Peter pulled his head away from the locker and shuffled in the general direction of English Lit. "May left for work before I got up so she couldn't call in for me and she's assisting on a long surgery so I can't call her to check me out." They got a warning look from their teacher as they walked into the classroom and slid into their desks. Peter crossed his arms and rested his chin on them as the teacher turned her back and started writing on the board. He could hear the soft buzzing from his phone. Pulling it out of his pocket he saw the message on the splash screen.

_"Heard you have a long weekend. Want to come out and work on the suit?"_

He would have loved nothing more than to head out to the compound for the 4-day weekend. He had seen May's work schedule on the refrigerator and knew she'd be working most of the weekend. But, as miserable as he felt, he knew there was no way he could work in the lab this weekend. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed.

_"I think I'm coming down with something. Don't want to get you sick. Probably best if I stay here and sleep it off over the weekend."_

His head and arms resumed their position on his desk and his eyes slipped shut as their teacher droned on about whatever book they were supposed to be reading. Hearing what he knew to be a phone taking a picture, he opened his eyes and looked at Ned, who was busy texting away. Glancing up Ned whispered, "He doesn't believe you. He thinks you're hurt."

Peter frowned as his phone buzzed again.

_"I'm checking you out. Be there in less than 10."_

Peter's frown deepened as he contemplated his response.

_"You have to be listed as my emergency contact to check me out. I'm fine. I'll head home after school and sleep all weekend."_

He was 99% sure he was going to be ignored but he thought he'd at least try.

_"FRIDAY'S got it, head to the office."_

Peter showed the string of messages to Ned. Ned's arm immediately shot up. "Mrs. Watkins, Peter needs to go to the nurse. He isn't feeling good." Their teacher looked over her glasses at the two boys and nodded her approval. "Mr. Parker, I'm not sure you should have come to school today. Make sure you read the next two chapters before Tuesday." She didn't argue when Ned stood up to walk with Peter to the office.

Ned steered Peter to his locker and shoved a couple of his books into his backpack, noting the suit folded in the bottom. Peter stared numbly at his friend. His brain was definitely not firing on all cylinders. What did Mr. Stark mean by 'FRIDAY'S got it'. His head hurt too bad as Ned steered him down the hall towards the office. The front doors to the school opened. Ned was waiving before Peter could even look up.

Mr. Stark stopped in front of Peter and took off his glasses scrutinizing the boys' face. "You look like crap kid." He slipped his watch off of his own wrist and fastened it on Peter's. Putting his glasses back on, he tapped the side. "FRIDAY, give me Pete's vitals including temperature."

"Peter's temperature is 103.8. All of his other vitals are within his normal range. Recommend fluids until he can get to MedBay."

Tony turned to Ned. "Got a vending machine or something?"

Ned nodded and asked, "Gatorade?"

Tony eyed Peter. He wasn't sure how much longer the kid was going to stay on his feet. "Make it three. I'll figure out how to check him out." He paused for a second and looked back at Ned. "You know I don't carry anything smaller than a $100, right?"

Ned grinned. "I'll add it to his tab."

Tony turned his attention back to Peter. "You can sleep in the car. How do we get you out of here?"

Peter raised his arm and pointed in the general direction of the office and followed as Tony headed in the direction, pulling Peter along. Sitting behind the desk, the receptionist looked up as Peter walked through the door. Her eyes widened when she saw who was behind him. "Uh, you're Tony Stark?"

Tony flashed the smile he reserved for the press and people he wanted something from. "I need to check Peter out."

The receptionist looked from Tony to Peter still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Tony Stark was standing in front of her desk. "Mr. Parker. Right. Oh, Peter, you look like you have a fever." Stumbling over what she was supposed to do, Tony prompted, "Do I need to sign something?"

"Right..". She typed Peters name in to pull up his file. As she was waiting for it to pull up she started, "You have to be listed...", she looked down at the screen, "oh, huh." Grabbing a form she placed it in the desk in front of him. "Just sign there."

Tony pulled a pen out of his breast pocket, scrawled his name, and looked back up. "Anything else?"

"No. Peter, feel better." The receptionist stared after them as they walked out of the office.

Ned met them by the front door and handed Peter a Gatorade and shoved the other two into his backpack. "Text me later and let me know how you're doing."

Tony steered Peter out the front door. "See ya Ned. Thanks for the heads up." He continued guiding Peter until the reached the car. Pulling open the passenger side, he waited for Peter to slide in before shutting the door. Walking around he opened his door, slid behind the steering wheel. FRIDAY started the car and Tony pulled away from the school into traffic headed to the compound. Pushing a button next to him he heard Peter let out a satisfied sigh as the seat cooling system turned on and enveloped him. Tony adjusted the temperature to cool Peter's side even more then turned on his own seat heaters to keep from freezing to death. "Since you haven't said more than ten words since I picked you up I know you feel bad. Do not go to sleep until you finish a Gatorade."

Peter opened one eye and twisted the cap off. Tipping the bottle up he drank most of it before putting the bottle down. "I feel like I got run over by a truck. You didn't have to pick me up though. I could have just gone home after school."

"Kid, I hate to break it to you but you weren't going to make it through the end of class much less to the end of the day." Since FRIDAY was driving he could turn all of his attention to Peter. "Have you been sick since the bite?"

"No. I was really sick right after but not since. And I used to get sick all the time." Peter finished the Gatorade and dropped the empty bottle into his backpack. Closing his eyes again he nestled into his seat. He opened one eye and looked over at Tony, "Did you hack my school to put yourself down as my emergency contact?"

"Don't worry about it." Tony grimaced at how flushed Peter looked. His healing factor should have taken care of whatever bug was in the process of leveling the him. He grabbed his tablet and pulled up the bio-metric data FRIDAY was getting from his watch that he had placed on Peter's wrist. The fever was the only thing that was bothersome. Everything else wasn't too far out of whack. He sent the feed to Dr. Cho. When Ned had sent him the picture of Peter he had immediately called her to find out where she was. Luckily she was in New York for a conference and agreed to head to the compound. She'd definitely beat them there and he wanted her to have his latest readings. It also meant that he'd had to grant her access to Peter's files. Too many people knew who Peter was for his liking but this was unavoidable.

FRIDAY seemed to understand that Tony wanted to get Peter to the compound as soon as possible and made record time. Happy met them in front of the MedBay entrance and opened Peter's door. "Come on kid, you're too big to carry."

Peter startled awake and blinked up at Happy. Groaning he swung his feet to the pavement and pushed himself up. "I'll grab your bag kid. Walk." Happy gave him a gentle push in the direction of the door. Tony fell into step next to Peter and grabbed his arm. Dr. Cho opened the door and ushered them in. A nurse led Peter into one of the exam rooms leaving Tony in the hall with Dr. Cho.

"I can't believe you pulled me out of a conference because your kid has the flu." Dr. Cho looked up at Tony with a smirk.

"Helen, you know he's not mine. And, with his unique situation who knows what this could end up being." Tony's eyes didn't move from the open door Peter had disappeared into. "So what's the plan."

"The plan is to pump him full of fluid and nutrients. I took Steve's baseline IV mix and doubled the nutrients. Hopefully it'll kickstart his healing factor. I still think it's just the flu, which means you also get a shot to keep you from picking up whatever strand this is."

Tony pulled his eyes from Peter's door and looked at Helen, "How long until you know if the IV route works? I haven't had a lot of luck finding medicine that works on him."

"The IV will take about an hour. Meanwhile we're checking to see if I'm right about it being the flu. There's a chair in there if you want to wait. I'll come give you your shot in a minute." With that Helen headed down the hall.

Tony walked into the exam room to find Peter curled up on the bed with an IV in his arm. His watch was on the table next to the bed and had been replaced with a different monitor, a digital readout showing Peter's vitals. The fever was down but just barely. Tony settled into the chair and waited. Helen returned a couple minutes later and jabbed a needle into his arm, and promised to be back after she reviewed the test results. And Tony continued to wait. Frustration got the better of him after less than ten minutes so he turned on his tablet and started designing.

Helen walked back into the room and checked Peter's IV. Tony looked up expectantly. "It's definitely the flu although it's interacting differently with his biology than it does normally. Judging by the fact that his fever is on the way down I think the IV was definitely the route to go. I'm going to set another one and we'll re-evaluate. It is bothersome that his healing factor didn't take care of this on its own. I want to look at it some more but since we don't know exactly what happened to him we're just going to have to take things like this as they come."

Tony glanced at the read out. Peter's fever was down to 102.3. "Thanks Helen. It's ok that he's been out the entire time, right?"

Helen shrugged, "Probably. Steve always slept a lot when he got injured but it usually only lasted a day or so. My guess is he'll start stirring when his fever is down a bit more. Yell if you need me. I'm going through his file to see if anything else jumps out."

Tony sat back down and pulled open the tablet once Helen had left. At the rate he was going, the kid was going to have at least three new suits by the time he woke up.

* * *

Peter stretched his legs out and rolled onto his back. Opening his eyes he snapped them shut immediately.

"FRIDAY, dim the lights 70%"

Peter heard Mr. Stark's voice to his right and squinted his eyes open.

"Better?"

Peter nodded and opened his eyes, looking around. "Where are we?"

"Compound MedBay. You fell asleep in the car so I'm not surprised you don't remember." Tony looked over at the readout. "Your fever is down to a little over 100 so you should be starting to feel a little bit better." He twisted the cap off of a Gatorade and handed it to Peter, adjusting the bed so he was raised enough to drink.

Helen walked in glancing up at the dimmed light. "Mr. Parker, nice to see you back in the land of the living. How are you feeling?"

Peter shrugged, "I can think straight so that's a start. I'm tired." Peter frowned and snuggled into the bed.

"Being tired is to be expected. I think it's part of how your healing factor works."

Tony looked down at Peter, "Now that your fever is under control, we need to figure out why that healing factor of yours isn't working on the flu."

Peter shrugged again closing his eyes. "I don't know, maybe it's because of the ribs."

Tony closed his eyes hoping he didn't hear what he thought he just heard. Opening them he starred at Peter. "I'm sorry. What was that?"

Peter opened his eyes which at that moment Helen thought looked exactly like a deer's eyes right before a car hit them. "Nothing" He mumbled trying to shrink back into the bed.

"Shirt off."

"Mr. Stark, it's nothing. It's not necessary." Peter pushed up on the bed and furtively tried to get as far away as he could.

"Shirt off."

Grumbling under his breath, Peter swung his legs off the table and sat up. "Fine". Grabbing the bottom of his t-shirt he pulled it over his head.

Tony stared at the blue, black, and green bruise spread across Peter's left side. The bruise that was only broken up by a white bandage. "FRIDAY, lights up 40% and run a full scan of Peter."

"Peter has multiple contusions. Three cracked ribs that are in the process of healing. He also has a laceration that was approximately 3 inches in length. It appears to be almost completely healed."

"You didn't think to mention this before?" Tony asked in exasperation.

Helen stepped between them and pulled back the bandage. "Who stitched you up?" Reaching into the drawer next to the bed she grabbed a pair of surgical scissors and tweezers. Snipping the stitches she pulled them out.

Hissing at the pull against the already bruised skin, Peter responded "I did."

Tony rubbed his hand over his face again. "What did you do, watch a YouTube video?"

Helen stepped between the two. "Ok, so good news. Healing factor is working. Better news, apparently it has the ability to triage wounds. Peter, I think you'll be closer to 100% if you get a good nights sleep and eat some solid food." She looked up at Tony, "that's good, so take the spider upstairs and get him some food."

Tony's eyes hadn't moved off of Peter. Peter on the other hand was looking anywhere but at Tony. "Come on kid. Let's figure dinner out."

Resigned, Peter grabbed his t-shirt, pulling it over his head as he hopped of the bed. Tony walked out of the room and Peter fell into step beside him. "Mr. Stark, I can head home for the weekend."

"Now why would we want to do that Spider Kid?"

"Because you probably have better things to do than nurse me back to health." Peter knew he was grasping at straws but he really didn't want to spend the weekend getting yelled at.

"Nope. My schedule is completely clear all weekend. I was thinking cheeseburgers for dinner. Sound good?"

Peter let out a resigned sigh, "Sure."

"Ok. Things to work on this weekend. You are going to patch your suit up. Then, you and I are going to design your own watch." Tony held up his wrist showing his reclaimed watch.

Peter interrupted, excitement evident in his voice, "Really? That's awesome! I can't believe you're going to let me patch my suit."

"Yeah, new rule. You break it, you fix it. For the watch, start thinking about what features you want."

"Yeah, of course." Peter tried to sound contrite. "What do you mean what kind of features?"

"Well the point is for Karen and Friday to have a way to monitor you when you're out of the suit so definitely bio-metrics."

Peter frowned, if Karen and Friday have access that meant that Mr. Stark would have access.

"I can actually see the wheels spinning in your head Spiderling. Yes, the watch will have a tracker as well. And alerts set up for things like high fevers."

Peter groaned. He thought maybe he had gotten out of the lecture. He was wrong, Mr. Stark was just gearing up for it.

Tony threw his arm around Peter's shoulder. "Relax Peter. Cheeseburgers and a movie tonight. We can discuss your lack of self preservation in the morning."

* * *

Cheeseburgers and a movie was...fun. Peter had been dreading the lecture but Mr. Stark hadn't said one word about any of it. Which made it so much worse. They ate, then watched a movie. Then Mr. Stark sent him to bed and Peter didn't complain. He was still tired. He shut his bedroom door behind him and pulled a pair of pajama pants out of the dresser. Part of him still thought it was weird that he had clothes at the Avenger Compound. Changing he threw himself on his bed and pulled out his phone. He texted Ned and gave him a run down of what happened. While Ned was typing he flipped back over to his other unread messages. Two from May and one from MJ. He typed a quick message to May assuring her he was feeling much better and that he was going to bed early and that he would call her in the morning. Before going back to Ned, he opened MJ's message.

_"Ned said you were sick but I'm not sure I buy it. Saw Mr. Stark at the school. If you got checked out of school to go fight bad guys it's going to reinforce my opinion of your internship."_

Panic swept to Peter. What did MJ know? He flipped back over to Ned's texts to see the latest one _"Heads up I think MJ knows. And by think I mean she asked me point blank and I'm not a good liar."_ Great. He flipped back over to MJ's message.

_"Ha Ha, I have the flu. Ask Ned for the picture."_

Peter waited for a return text and instead, his phone rang in his hands. Crap. It's not like he could ghost her now. He had just texted her. And if he did, it would just make her even more suspicious. He slid his thumb over the screen and put the call on speaker. "Hey MJ." Peter cringed. He knew he didn't sound sufficiently sick.

"Peter. You don't sound sick."

He could hear the suspicion in her voice. "They have great doctors at the compound. I'm feeling much better than I did this morning."

"Uh-huh, I know you're Spider-Man. I've known for months."

Crap. He flipped the call over to video and MJ's face appeared in the screen a second later. "MJ..."

She cut him off, "I've known for months and haven't told anyone. Your secret is safe. I just have questions."

Peter sighed, he wasn't sure he could go through the questions again. There was only so many times he could take being asked if he laid eggs.

MJ took his silence as acceptance so she continued, "Why?"

Peter snapped his eyes to meet hers. Mr. Stark was the only other one who had asked him why. Ned had asked a gazillion questions but never why. May had talked a lot, and had tried to make him promise a lot of things but had never asked why. MJ was asking why.

"Why what?" He wasn't sure he wanted to answer this question right now.

"Why do you put your life in danger almost every night?"

MJ looked sincere. There was no hint of teasing or sarcasm or whatever it was that she did. He took a deep breath and answered, "Because I can. So because I can, I feel like I should."

"But you couldn't always." It was more of a statement than a question.

"No. Radioactive mutant spider bite." Peter met her eyes to see if he could detect the apprehension he was terrified he was going to see. Instead he saw eyes that were drilling into him as if trying to see him, Peter.

"Ok. So the Stark internship?"

He grinned a little, "Fighting the occasional bad guy, but mainly working in the lab with Mr. Stark."

"So Stark picking you up today was really because you were sick?"

Leave it to MJ to deflate the fact that he was feeling a little bit better about his day. "Yes. He takes his role as mentor seriously." He frowned a little bit.

"There are worse mentors. Of course there are better ones too. What's with the frown?"

Peter wasn't sure why the words started pouring out of his mouth but they did, "I screwed up. He got me from school because I shouldn't have gotten sick. I have a healing factor because of the bite that takes care of bruises, cuts, broken bones. I haven't been sick since the bite. It freaked him out that I was all the sudden sick. Once they got my fever down a little I let it slip that maybe it had something to do with my ribs which freaked him out even more because then he found out about my stitching myself up and now he's being really nice."

"Wow. Ok, so let's start with the ribs and stitching yourself up."

MJ was remarkably calm which helped Peter focus. "When I was out patrolling last night I stopped a couple guys that were hassling some women. There was a little fight and one of them had a knife." Peter puffed out a breath and looked at MJ.

"Fight and knife. So, you were stabbed?"

He had to hand it to her, she was still really calm about the whole thing. It made it easier. "Fight which resulted in a couple bruised ribs and then one of them got me with the knife."

"So, you were stabbed."

"No, more of a slash." He shifted the phone in his hands and pulled up the edge of his shirt so she could see the faint line from where the laceration had been.

"Huh." He could see MJ studying the fading bruises and remaining scar before he tugged down his shirt.

"You stitched yourself up? YouTube video?"

Peter nodded. People keep saying that like it was a bad thing. What else was he supposed to do? "So now Mr. Stark is being super nice. Nothing like when he yelled at me after the whole Ferry thing."

MJ narrowed her eyes, "So what are you worried about?"

"It's like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. He's mad because I didn't tell him about the ribs or the gash."

"So he's worried about you."

Peter huffed. He knew she was on to something it was just weird. Weird that he was having this conversation with MJ and weird that it was possible that Tony Stark was worried about him.

"Look, Peter, the reality is that what you do is super dangerous and you have someone who can help you. You should let him. You should also let your friends help you. Ned said something about being the Man In The Chair as he was trying to deny knowing anything about you being Spider-Man. I may not be the Man In The Chair but if you ever need someone to talk to call me. I can even help stitch you up next time."

Peter wondered if he would ever stop being surprised when he looked at her expecting to see sarcasm but saw honesty instead. "Thanks MJ." He paused, trying to decide if he wanted to say what was in his head but his mouth opened anyway, "My life is weird. I feel bad bringing anyone else into it."

"Good thing you don't get to decide that then."

Ah, there's the MJ he knew. The one that did whatever she wanted to. He stifled a yawn as he tried to figure out how to respond. MJ took the decision from him.

"You should probably go to bed. You still look like you have a little bit of a fever. Call me tomorrow and let me know how things are going. Later."

And with that MJ hung up. And Peter stared at his phone. Maybe he was still unconscious in MedBay. It was the only explanation. Mr. Stark was acting weird. MJ was not acting like MJ. He plugged his phone in and stretched out on his bed. Usually he stared at the ceiling, mind racing too much to fall asleep. With everything that had happened today his mind should be racing but he was tired. "FRIDAY, can you turn the lights off please?" The lights dimmed until the were completely off. Peter didn't even realize his eyes had closed.

* * *

After Peter headed to his room, Tony paced his bedroom. It was way too early for him to go to bed and he was way too keyed up to even try. "FRIDAY, what's Peter doing?"

"Peter just ended a phone call and has turned off his lights."

"Ok, if he gets up, let me know." Tony headed down to his labs. Truth be told he had really enjoyed just eating dinner and watching a movie with the kid. The problem was he felt like he should have somehow grounded him, which was ridiculous since he wasn't his parent. Did mentors ground their mentorees? Of course Peter wasn't a normal, well, a normal anything. He flipped through the designs he had started while waiting for Peter's fever to come down. His mind kept flipping back to the fact that Peter again, didn't feel like he needed to let him know he had gotten hurt. Maybe he felt like he couldn't tell him. It was that thought that kept him from losing his temper and doing something rash. After the whole Vulture thing, the one thing Tony had focused on was getting the kid to trust him. He thought they had made progress but then this happens. All he wanted was to keep Pete from getting himself seriously injured or worse. It was the 'worse' part that kept him up at night. And it was the reason why Peter had ridiculous features in his suit. Every possible scenario that Tony has ever faced equaled a feature. Every possible scenario Tony's brain could come up with equaled a feature. But he couldn't keep him safe and it drove him crazy. So many thoughts whirled through his head, scenarios that resulted in injury, ways to make him more effective, ways to get him to trust him, ways to get him to want help. He could feel his frustration mount and before he knew it the tablet was being hurled against the wall.

"Well, that was remarkably similar to a whisky glass being thrown." Rhodey stopped in the doorway of the lab and leaned against it. "Problems?"

"He watched a YouTube video to figure out how to stitch himself up. Apparently that was a better option than calling me and asking for help." Tony paced the floor stepping on broken bits of the tablet.

Rhodey watched Tony pace. "Asking for help isn't natural for him. You said May even told you that. Did you yell at him?"

Tony shook his head. "No. Thought that might bring out his stubborn streak. Last time we got into it, it did not end well." Tony thought back to the ferry incident. Of all the things he regretted, that might be one of the worst ones. "He's here all weekend. I told him he was going to have to fix his own suit and we're designing a watch like mine. I can download Karen into it and she can help monitor him."

Rhodey laughed. "I'm not sure you understand how punishment works. You just described the kid's idea of a perfect weekend."

Tony sighed, "I know. Somewhere in there I've got to figure out how to set some ground rules. I thought I had enough in Karen's protocols but somehow he convinced an AI that getting hurt in a knife fight did not require a call to FRIDAY."

"You'll figure it out. I hear you're a genius." Rhodey pulled himself away from the door of the lab. "I'll come say hi to the kid in the morning. Make sure you clean up the glass. Don't want SpiderKid cutting himself."


	5. Chapter 5 - I'm Fine

"Just so we have a baseline of what you consider 'fine' - getting three broken ribs and a 3-inch gash that you felt was bad enough to watch a YouTube on how to stitch a wound and proceed to actually stitch yourself up Thursday night...does not constitute 'fine'". Tony crossed his arms and stared at the teen in front of him waiting for him to argue.

"I can see where maybe bleeding enough where it should be stitched might constitute 'not fine' but what am I supposed to do? Go to the hospital?" Peter crossed his arms, mimicking the man standing in front of him.

"Let's just focus on defining what's 'fine' before we start tackling the solutions." Tony's eyes locked with the kid's, "The little scuffle you got into two weeks ago that resulted in minor bruising, that could be classified as 'fine'".

Eyes just as locked as the older man's in front of him, Peter challenged back, "So bruising is ok but blood isn't? Or is there a quantity limit. Or how about if it clots on it's own in less than ten minutes?"

Tony couldn't tell if Peter was being sarcastic or actually trying to assign limits and work it like an if-then statement. He decided it didn't matter if he could get the kid to agree to some guardrails without a fight. "No, I think you're on to something, if it hasn't stopped bleeding in ten minutes it's not fine. But, if you lose a certain quantity it's definitely not fine and you're not giving it ten minutes."

Peter pursed his lips and let out what Tony could only describe as a tiny growl. Sarcasm it was then. "Ok kid, here's another example, getting a warehouse dropped on you. Not 'fine'".

Peter almost took a step back, startled that Mr. Stark knew about the warehouse but stopped himself from saying anything or moving and hoped that Mr. Stark hadn't noticed. One look at his eyes told him that he did notice because the eyes that had been playfully arguing with him over the definition of 'fine' had a little bit of sadness in them now. Sucking in a breath, Peter quietly replied "Agreed, not 'fine'".

"Pete, I'm not trying to treat you like a child. If Rhodey didn't tell anyone he had to stitch himself up I'd get onto him too."

A stifled snort brought both of their attention to the man sitting at the table, quietly enjoying a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats and enjoying the fact that the kid was obviously a match for Tony. "Keep me out of this." Rhodey shoved another spoonful of cereal in his mouth as he continued watching Tony and Peter spar over the definition of "fine".

Peter turned back towards his mentor. He really didn't want to fight with the man. He loved spending time with him. Deciding to try to alter the course a little, he took a different approach. "So when I faced down the drones at the Stark Expo with nothing more than an Iron Man mask?"

Now it was Tony's turn to be caught off guard. The look on his face prompted Peter to continue, "You probably don't remember. I was pretty young and assumed I could take on the drones just like you. Probably not fine either. You landed next to me and blasted the drone to bits and said"

Tony interrupted, "Nice work, kid." His voice was soft and low. "That was you?"

Rhodey stood up, "See kid, perfect example of a time when you needed backup." It was also the perfect time to give Tony a little bit of backup. He could tell Peter's revelation had rocked him a little bit. "You know if Tony hits the jets on the suit he can be in the city in less than 15 minutes. And, you know I split time between DC, New York, and here. FRIDAY always knows where I am. If you need help, you can ask."

Peter shook his head, "It's not always that easy. Usually when something happens it escalates in a matter of seconds not minutes."

Tony shoved Peter's revelation about the Stark Expo into the corner of his brain labeled 'Deal With It Later' and jumped back into the conversation. "That's a good point. How about I stash one of the suits somewhere close. If you need backup immediately, Rhodey or I can pilot remotely. At least buy you some time until I can get there."

Peter looked at Tony in exasperation, "Really? Where are you going to stash a suit?"

"I'll check and see what I still own in the city. If I have to buy something I will. Which actually isn't a bad idea either. A safe house of sorts. It's probably good to have something off the books like that. FRIDAY, start looking for something suitable."

"Sure thing Boss. Regarding Peter's problem of needing medical attention when he's away from the compound, might I suggest you talk to Dr. Cho?"

Tony looked at Peter and recognized the deer in headlights look. "Pete, I know you want to handle everything by yourself and you're more than capable."

"Then why are you talking about buying a safe house in the city and stashing a suit there so you can fly to the rescue any time I go up against a bad guy. Do you know how freaked out people will be when Iron Man flies in to save Spider-Man from a bicycle thief?"

Tony shook his head, "I wouldn't assist you on a bicycle theft. I know you can handle those. It's the bigger stuff I'm worried about."

"So your telling me that you're not going to over react?" Peter was skeptical at best. More concerned he was going to be patrolling Queens with an empty Iron Man suit at worst.

"I will abide by ground rules if you do." Tony was willing to abide by rules if Peter would. It would probably kill him but he'd do it if that what it took.

Another frustrated growl escaped from Peter. "Deal. Let's start with back up."

Tony immediately volleyed a list, "Alien tech, Aliens, guns, and if you're out numbered 3 to 1."

"Alien tech and Aliens yes. Guns no. Outnumbered 8 to 1." Peter crossed his arms and waited for the rebuttal.

"You're not bullet proof and neither is the suit. Wouldn't it be helpful to have a shield?" Tony didn't think the kid would agree to it but wanted it on the table.

"I can web them up before they get a shot off. I've done It before."

Tony frowned but knew he wasn't going to win on guns. "If I agree I reserve the right to put it back on the list if you ever get shot."

Peter's brows creased. "Agreed. But I'm not giving in on the outnumbered part."

Tony's frown deepened. There was a reason Pepper negotiates all of the contracts for SI. "Ok, but I also reserve the right to revisit. So, you call for backup if you encounter aliens, alien tech, and if you're outnumbered 8 to 1. I get to have a safe house in the city where I can house a suit that can act as backup if I can't get there. We both reserve the right to revisit as conditions change."

"Agreed."

Tony wasn't sure if he was coming out on top of this negotiation or not but decided to keep going. "Injuries. I get a call on any injuries but I only get the right to act if you have been shot, knocked unconscious, bleeding freely for 10 minutes, or have loss a certain amount of blood. Oh, and I want broken bones too."

Peter frowned, "I break ribs all the time. That's ridiculous."

"The fact that you just said that and don't see something wrong with it makes that one non-negotiable. In fact all of them are non-negotiable." The look on Tony's face said take it or leave it although he wasn't 100% sure what he was going to do if Peter pushed back.

"Clarification on your actions if you're called. I think we're in agreement that I cannot go to a hospital so what's the plan?"

"Safe house will have medical capabilities. The rest of it is to be determined. To be honest I don't know what the answer is because anyone else we bring into this compromises you further."

"Ok, I tentatively agree to the injury protocol pending the plan to handle the injuries."

"So we're agreed?" It was guard rails Tony could live with if Peter would keep his end of the bargain.

Peter stuck his hand out to shake on it, "Agreed."

Tony shook his hand, "Pepper will be proud of your negotiation skills. Why don't we start working on something a little more fun like your suit or the watch?"

Peter groaned, "I'm assuming I can't talk you out of the watch?"

Throwing his arm around Peter's should Tony turned him towards the elevator, "It'll be the coolest watch ever."

Rhodey ate another bite of his cereal and yelled after them, "You know you could always make me a watch too."

Tony called over his shoulder, "I made you a suit."

Rhodey retorted, "You made the kid a suit too."


	6. Chapter 6 - Suit Repairs, part 1

Peter stretched his suit out on the work table and looked at the hole in the side.

"So, how are you planning on fixing it?" Mr. Stark leaned against the counter behind him and crossed his arms.

"Well, I was planning on you telling me what to do but I'm getting the distinct impression that you're not going to help much." Peter reached into a drawer and pulled out a pair of tweezers and started to pull the filaments away from the torn fabric so they could be reset. He glanced up at Mr. Stark and saw that he was intently watching him pull the filaments. Looking back at the suit his eyes traced the filament until it hit a junction. "I need to rerun the entire length, right?"

"Yes. On all of them." Tony smiled at the groan Peter let out. "Maybe next time you'll avoid getting stabbed."

"If I had been stabbed the damage would have been much smaller. It was a gash and did way more damage than a simple stabbing." Peter pulled the filament free from its termination junction and dropped it on the table next to his suit. "This sucks. You make it look so easy when you do it."

"Which tells me I should have had you doing this before now."

Peter focused on the next damaged filament. "FRIDAY, can you turn on some music?"

The familiar playlist started playing in the background. Tony smiled as Peter started humming quietly to AC/DC. He walked over to another workstation and started working on some of the more tedious aspects of creating Peter a watch. He already had it planned out in his head. He'd let Peter customize it when he was done with the suit and then they could work on both the suit programming as well as the watch programming. Getting Karen into it was going to take the better part of the day but it was something FRIDAY could handle once they had it set up. The part he wanted to focus on was the housing on the underneath side that would eventually store the nanobots once he figured out how to stabilize the tech. The nanotechnology was frustrating. He knew what he wanted it to do but he couldn't stabilize it. After Germany he realized how vulnerable his suit was. Granted, he didn't think there were that many micro sized individuals running around but now that the technology existed outside of Hank Pym it was only a matter of time. In his head he saw his Iron Man armor forming around him seamlessly. That wasn't necessarily the problem. He had figured that part out. The part that was being troublesome was it maintaining integrity when hit. It tended to fall apart which definitely was not going to work in the middle of a battle. Web shooters were going to be easier to manage but he still wanted to solve the integrity issue. When he solved the problem with the Iron Man suit he could apply the same tech to the Iron Spider suit.

He had most of the structure of the watch complete when he heard Peter yell "Done" from the other side of the room. Tony looked up and saw Peter with his arms raised in the air victoriously. Chuckling he walked over to the table to inspect Peter's work. He had meticulously removed all of the damaged filaments and lined them up next to the suit. For a teenager he actually kept his work space orderly. Even more so than Tony did.

"Ok, let's get the fabric repairs started and we'll go let Dr. Cho check you out before we start programming."

Peter let our another groan but picked up the suit and carried it over to the machine that fabricated most of the materials Tony used. It was like a souped up version of a 3-D printer. Once they set everything and started the repairs Tony pushed Peter out of the lab and towards MedBay.

Dr. Cho met them at the MedBay doors as they walked through. Peter assumed that FRIDAY gave her a heads up. "How are you feeling Peter?" Slapping a monitor on his wrist his vitals popped up on the closest monitor. "Temperature is back to normal. How are the bruises and ribs?"

Peter pulled up the corner of his shirt so Dr. Cho could examine his ribs. He had checked this morning, all of the bruising had disappeared overnight and his ribs felt fine.

"That is amazing." Standing back up she made notes on her tablet. "I've created a baseline IV cocktail that can be used anytime he's injured. It's basically what we used yesterday. We'll monitor the results and tweak it if needed. For now, you have a clean bill of health. Try to keep it that way."

Tony smirked at Peter. "We spent part of the morning trying to figure that out. We've solved everything other than how to get Pete medical treatment when he's in the city and it can't wait until he gets here."

Helen interjected immediately. "Hospitals are not an option. Not only would he be exposed but treatment they might give him not knowing his unique situation could actually be dangerous." Helen looked at Tony. She had known him long enough to know that he had at least a partial plan.

"Part of our agreement is that I get to have a safe house in the city. I can equip it with medical facilities but the warm body aspect is a problem."

"I have a couple suggestions. We can rig an auto IV. That'll go a long way towards the minor injuries. Obviously if I'm in town I can meet him there. When I'm not, there are a couple alternatives. Although you're probably not going to approve of them."

"I'm not thrilled about revealing his identity but I'm more worried about not having a plan in place."

"There's a nurse. Her name is Claire Temple. She's a friend of some of the other New York vigilantes."

Peter's face made it perfectly clear that he didn't see himself in the same bucket as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen or any of the others.

"Relax Spider kid, she didn't call you a vigilante. How well do you know her?"

"I've met her a couple times. I can set up a meet. She understands the necessity of keeping a secret identity a secret."

"Ok, set it up. When I have the location for the safe house I'll let you know." Looking back at Peter he added "He's cleared?"

"He's cleared." Helen closed her tablet and stepped back as Peter jumped off the table.

"Thanks Dr. Cho!"

Grinning at Peter's enthusiasm, Tony turned and followed Peter out of MedBay. "Why don't we grab lunch before heading back to the lab." Tony knew that he had the inclination to skip most meals in lieu of working in the lab and it was not a habit he wanted Peter to pick up, especially since his metabolism burned through everything including meals so fast.


	7. Chapter 7 - Suit Repairs, part 2

They raided the refrigerator and pulled out all the fixings for sandwiches. Tony, with a modest sandwich and an apple was still astonished at the amount of food Peter could put away and still be on the small side. "Call and check in with your aunt before we get back into the lab. You know both of us will forget when we get down there."

Peter grinned at the truth in the statement and scrolled through his text messages, sending a quick text to Ned and MJ. As he sent the texts he remembered his conversation with MJ last night and looked up at Mr. Stark. "Oh...MJ knows."

Tony stared at Peter. "What do you mean MJ knows?"

"She said, 'I know you're Spider-Man'. Apparently she figured it out months ago." Peter couldn't tell if Mr. Stark was mad, indifferent, or concerned.

"So in the span of one day the number of people who know your secret identity increased by two? And we're talking about adding another?" At the rate they were going the kid would be outed as Spider-Man with a year. He started cycling through the additional security he would need to put into place for that eventuality. The safe house idea was starting to have multiple purposes. It would also give Peter a place to hide if needed.

"MJ won't let it slip. There's really less risk of her saying something than Ned."

Tony contemplated the fact that Peter's closest friends knew his secret. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing if they could keep the secret. He had spent a little bit of time with Ned and had researched him after the Vulture incident. Ned was Peter's best friend. The problem was he was still in awe of the whole superhero thing. He could be a little excitable but had also proved to be good in an emergency. MJ was a different story. The girl was a little more private. No social media presence at all. Smart and to hear Peter talk more than a little self possessed, although the word Peter had used was 'scary'. He suspected it might be because he had a little crush on her but had never admitted it. Tony's brain short circuited a little as he realized the thought that had just casually come up in his mental conversation. He was well on his way to being fully involved in teenage drama and angst. When the hell had that happened? The thought also occurred to him that he didn't hate it. In fact it felt normal, right.

"Mr. Stark?"

Peter pulled Tony out of his daze. "We just need to make sure they both understand how much danger you'd be in if your identity is revealed by accident. If you decide down the road to have your own 'Iron Man' moment, what happens after can be controlled. Security measures can be put into place. If it happens by accident we'll be left scrambling."

"Ok. I don't think either of them would let it slip." Peter stood up and took his and Mr. Stark's empty dishes to the kitchen and loaded them in the dishwasher. He dialed May and held the phone on his shoulder as he put the dishes up.

Tony leaned back in his chair and watched Peter. It was comfortable. It dawned on him how much he liked having Peter around. Peter hung up the phone and walked out of the kitchen. "Ready to go to the lab?"

Tony stood up and smiled. "Of course."

As they entered the lab, Tony informed Peter he was not helping with the programming.

"But why?"

Tony smiled at what was very much the response he expected, "Because I would like for the programming to stick. You have a history of trying to circumvent protocols when you want to do something you think I won't approve of."

Peter knew he wasn't going to win, but forged ahead on the slight chance he could talk him into it, "But Mr. Stark, I thought you wanted me to learn how to repair my suit. Programming it is part of the repairs."

"Consider this to be your probation. You can start programming it when you've proven that you're not going to hack it. So while I reprogram the parts that you pulled and add the new protocol, you can start working on the watch." Tony pointed at the workstation where he'd left the watch.

Peter grumbled under his breath but turned and walked towards the other workstation. Tony waiting until Peter had made his way over to the other workstation before turning his back to pull new filaments out to finish. He had learned after the first time he had to make repairs Peter's suit to have most of the sections preprogrammed so all he had to do was swap them out and update. He'd replace them, then start the updates so he could rejoin Peter.

"Hey, Mr. Stark, what's this housing on the back?" Peter held the watch up, looking across the room.

"Nanobot housing." Tony attached the last filament and hooked the suit up to start updating. Walking over to Peter he pulled up a hologram display that showed the watch. "Slide your arm in."

Peter slid his arm through the hologram so the watch fastened around his wrist. Tony tapped part of the screen and they watched a web shooter form. "Whoa." Peter moved his arm around looking at the holographic web shooter from all sides.

"Cool, huh." Tony was pleased with himself. The look on the kid's face was priceless. "I still have some kinks to work out but it's almost ready."

Still manipulating the hologram, Peter asked "what kind of kinks?"

Tony flicked the holographic web shooter, "stability for one." The web shooter collapsed but immediately reformed. "The idea is to give you access to your web shooters at all times. He pulled up another display that showed a simple metal band. "Other wrist. This way you'll always have them."

"Ok, I take it back. You can put a tracker in it if it means I get nanobot web-shooters."

Tony chuckled, "You can help me finish it then. Meanwhile, here's what I was thinking." The hologram disappeared and Tony pulled up a list. "It obviously has biometric data, we'll load Karen in so you have access to her. I think you should also consider a panic button. Something unobtrusive that you can call for help without anyone knowing."

Peter thought through different aspects of what he might be able to use the watch for. He was so excited about the possibility of having access to his web-shooters at all times that he was hard pressed to come up with other ideas. "Hey, if you have the ability to track me, can I have the ability to track others? When I was trying to track down the Vulture I used one of the trackers and then monitored it with the web shooter. Can I use this the same way?"

Tony shrugged, "Sure. Like this?" Tony pulled up the hologram again and displayed the same 3-D image the suit's web-shooter had.

"Yes, but can it also be unobtrusive? Maybe a 2-D map on the face?" Peter took both hands and flattened the holographic image and splashed it onto the holographic watch face.

"Ok, show off. You're getting the hang of it. What else?" Tony loved that Peter used his technology so naturally.

"I don't know. Karen routes any calls and texts when I'm in the suit, will it do the same here?"

Tony nodded, "I guess we should probably actually make it a watch." He flipped a watch face on the hologram.

Peter grinned. "Looks good. What do we do now?"

"Well, Friday can upload most of the subroutines. They're not that different from mine. When she's done, we'll just tweak a few things. By the time you head home on Monday, you'll have a new watch." Tony swiped the hologram away. "FRIDAY, start upload. And pull up the nanotech data."


	8. Chapter 8 - Suit Repairs, part 3

Pepper could hear Tony's voice as the elevator doors slid open and smiled. She cocked her head to the side as another voice responded, fully engaged in a discussion about thermodynamics and wind sheer. Both figures skidded to a stop as they rounded the corner and saw Pepper standing next to the kitchen island.

"Pepper! I didn't think you were going to make it back until tomorrow?" Tony moved towards Pepper giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Pete and I were going to order Thai."

Pepper smiled at the Tony and Peter. They were cut from the same cloth. Both completely filthy from working in the lab but both almost giddy with excitement. "Thai sounds good."

"FRIDAY, order from that Thai place we all like. Everyone's favorites." Tony looked over at Peter. "Sport, you have engine grease on your shirt. Go change and clean up."

Peter grinned, "Miss Potts, it's good to see you. Hope your trip was good."

"Thank you." Pepper replied with a smile watching Peter retreat down the hall. Turning to Tony she studied his grease covered shirt. "You have grease on you too. Why don't we both change and you can fill me in on what you two have been doing."

Once they were in their bedroom Tony stripped off his T-shirt throwing it into the hamper. Pepper kicked off her heals, scooped them up and carried them into her closet. "I thought Peter had the flu? I stopped by the MedBay on the way in since you told me if I came home while Peter was here I had to get a flu shot. Helen said there wasn't a need."

Tony tugged a clean shirt over his head. "Spider took care of it. Did she tell you about the rest of it?"

"Something about stitches and she said to ask you about a safe house?" Her voice was slightly muffled from the closet. "Who had to get stitches and who is getting a safe house? And why?"

"Peter stitched himself up but we've come to an agreement. I get a call from him in certain cases and I get a safe house in the city to house a suit." Tony walked out of the bathroom after scrubbing grease from his hands. "Pepper, you should have heard the negotiations. He was masterful." Tony stretched out on the bed waiting for Pepper to finish.

"Tony, I know your track record with negotiations. Plus, it's Peter. Somehow I'm not sure you came out on top."

Tony looked towards the closet. "I feel like there's a question in there somewhere."

"No, just an observation. What are you two working on?" She existed her closet wearing loose pants and shirt.

"Trying to make the nanotechnology work. It's not. We ran into a roadblock so we tore apart one of the older Iron Man suits."

Pepper laughed and walked out of the room with Tony trailing behind her. "What? It was instructional."

Peter was retrieving a Gatorade from the refrigerator by the time Pepper and Tony returned to the kitchen. "FRIDAY said food will be here in 20 minutes."

"Good. That gives us time to catch up. How's school?" Pepper sat down in one of the stools and looked at Peter.

"It good. We have an academic decathlon meet next week but it's local. Ned texted me the list of work I missed." Looking over at Tony, he added, "Do you have a laptop I can borrow? There's a couple things I can't do on my phone."

"Of course. We'll grab it in the morning and you can knock it out. I was thinking tomorrow you could get in some training. I've got a couple things I want you to try. Feel up for it?" Tony leaned on the kitchen bar. He thought the kid was over the flu but he still scrutinized him as he watched his face light up at the prospect of training.

Pepper interjected, "You absolutely have to finish your homework first."

"Yes, ma'am".

Tony snickered at Peter's reply which resulted in Pepper throwing an apple at Tony. She picked up one and tossed it at Peter. "You two need something other than take out."

Peter caught the apple and proceeded to play with it. He made it stick to his palm the released it to catch it with the same hand. After the third time doing it he realized Mr. Stark was staring at him. "Sorry." He took a bite of the apple and realized Mr. Stark was still staring at him. "What?"

"You control when and what you stick to, right?"

Peter nodded, "It's usually subconscious unless I'm playing around with it." He stuck the apple to his palm again, then released it and caught it.

Tony took another bite of his apple, letting the idea roll around in his head. If it worked it would be one of those paradigm shifting technologies. "There's a mental component. You control what it does."

Peter nodded and thought through what Tony had said. His eyes widened. "There's a mental component."

Tony jumped up, "Pepper, we'll be back." Knowing Peter was on his heels he headed for the elevator.

* * *

Rhodey walked into the lab with a bag of Thai food and dropped it on the table. "Just so you know Pepper has disowned both of you and I'm claiming one of your containers of food."

"We'll make it up to her." Tony didn't look up from the screen.

Peter had a pencil and was scribbling in a notebook. "I still don't know why it has to be you. They're my web-shooters."

Tony paused, "Seriously?"

Rhodey stared at the Tony and Peter who had almost identical looks on their faces, as if they couldn't believe the other had said what they had. He never thought when he suggested that Tony mentor Peter that he would actually just be creating a mini version of Tony. But that's exactly what had happened. "Ok, I don't know what you two are up to but I'm getting the feeling that it's going to end up being like when you destroyed your lab testing the Iron Man suit."

Tony turned his attention to Rhodey. "I did not destroy the lab."

DUM-E beeped from the corner of the room.

"Traitor." Tony glanced over at the robots. Picking up a container of food, he opened it, stuck a fork in it, and shoved it in front of Peter who absentmindedly put a forkful in his mouth.

Swallowing the bite and disagreement forgotten, Peter tapped the notebook, "Brain waves are going to be a tough interface although I read a study that supports the idea that brain waves are unique - like fingerprints so that eliminates a potential issue with someone else controlling it."

Tony nodded, "I think we can work out the interface. If we can make the uniqueness foolproof we can avoid the DNA imprinting. It's unlikely that anyone could decode it but I would prefer your DNA not be in any of it."

"If you're using brain waves you should be able to code them as electrical impulses. The interface is nothing more than electrical pairing."

Tony and Peter turned and stared at Rhodey.

"What? You two aren't the only smart people in the building. I do have a degree from MIT."

* * *

Pepper walked into the lab and took in the scene in front of her. Empty take out containers littered one workstation along with pieces of some kind of machine and empty Gatorade bottles. Tony and Rhodey we're pulling wires out of a machine and Peter was crouched on the ceiling watching what they were doing. "Do you three know what time it is?"

"11ish?" Tony pulled a wire sending a spark up.

"It's 2am." Tony and Rhodey froze. Tony glanced up at the ceiling. "Pete, you need to be in bed."

"You all need to be in bed." Tony and Rhodey looked over at Pepper who was glaring at them with her arms crossed.

Rhodey glanced over at Peter who had quietly slipped down to the floor and was standing next to him. "Come on Spider-Kid, I'll tuck you into bed."

"You know I've patrolled later than this before."

Rhodey put his hand on Peter's shoulder guiding him through the door of the lab. "Stop talking. It's making it worse."

Pepper waited for the door to close before she turned back to Tony. He cut her off before she could say anything. "I know. I should not have lost track of time and kept Peter down here this long. We just got caught up."

Pepper studied Tony's face. "He's 15. I get that he has the whole Spider-Man thing and does stuff that most 15 year olds shouldn't but you cannot pass on your bad habits and losing track of time in the lab is one of them."


	9. Chapter 9 - Homework

Peter stretched his legs out under the covers and rolled onto his back. He opened his eyes to a comforting darkness and nestled back into the covers. "FRIDAY, what time is it?"

"It's 10:45am"

Peter looked at his darkened windows. "FRIDAY, it's still dark outside."

"Your windows have been darkened as part of the Sleeping Baby Protocol."

Peter clinched his jaw. Sleeping Baby Protocol? What the hell. "FRIDAY, what's the Sleeping Baby Protocol?"

"The Sleeping Baby Protocol is a sub routine that reduces the ambient temperature in a room, blocks light from any windows, and reduces sound intrusion. All changes are designed to create the optimum sleeping environment."

Peter muttered under his breath. "I am not a baby. I cannot believe he did this."

"Peter, Boss did not enact the Sleeping Baby Protocol. Miss. Potts did when she came back upstairs from the lab last night. Although I do have standing orders to enact the protocol when you're sleeping at the compound."

Peter sighed, it was hard to get mad at Miss. Potts. "FRIDAY, lights at 50% and can you turn off the Sleeping Baby Protocol?"

His lights turned on and the window darkening faded. The light wasn't enough to hurt his eyes so he pushed back the covers he swung his feet over the side. His stomach was growling. "FRIDAY, where is everyone?"

"Miss Potts is in her office downstairs, Colonel Rhodes is in the gym, Boss is in his room."

Peter scooted off the bed. He could grab something to eat without worrying about changing first.

* * *

Tony walked out of his bedroom, shaking his still damp hair. He chuckled to himself when he saw Peter sitting at kitchen bar with a giant bowl of cereal. Pajama bottoms, t-shirt, and completely untamed brown curls sticking up at random angles. He very rarely saw Peter with his hair not tamed. He never remembered just how out of control it could be. It made him look younger which is probably why he went to extremes to get rid of the curls. Knowing it would aggravate him, he reached over as he walked by and ruffled his hair. Peter would have known he was next to him so it surprised him that he didn't dodge out of the way. "Get enough sleep kid?"

"You know, I always wondered why I sleep better over here than I do at home. I had chalked it up to less noise and a bigger bed. Turns out it's because you turn on the Sleeping Baby Protocol every time I sleep over." Peter put another spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

"Hey, I use the Sleeping Baby Protocol. And, you can blame Pepper for the name. It's an old sub-routine from Jarvis. I think she named it that because she was also accusing me at the time of being childish." Tony shrugged and poured himself a bowl of cereal. "Pepper said she put a laptop in your room and you're supposed to finish all of your homework before stepping foot off this floor."

Peter nodded as he swallowed the bite of cereal. "I don't have much. Two chapters in English Lit, a little bit in math, and I think some physics."

"I doubt you need help with any of it but tell FRIDAY to get me if you do." Tony shrugged, "Or, FRIDAY could probably help to but don't let her do your work for you. Sometimes she can be a little too helpful."

Peter laughed, "Karen can be a little overly helpful too. I don't think any of it is too hard. It'll maybe take me an hour or two tops." He paused before continuing, "Are you going down to the lab?"

Tony shook his head frowning, "I've been banned from the lab. Something about punishment for keeping you up too late. I will be in my office going over SI paperwork."

Part of Peter was glad Tony wasn't going to keep working on the nanotechnology without him but the other part felt bad, "2am isn't that late. I've stayed out patrolling later than that."

"I think it's more that she doesn't want my bad habits rubbing off on you. Which I wholeheartedly support." Tony looked at the kid sitting in front of him who looked much younger than his 15 years. "Finish your homework and we'll do some training this afternoon."

* * *

Homework took longer than Peter thought it would. Mr. Stark pulled him out of his room for lunch and then sat at the dining room table with him as he finished his Physics homework. Peter smiled as he listened to Mr. Stark's exasperation at why he had to go through the tedious and time consuming act of showing his work on stuff that he obviously knew.

"You know you could probably skip a few grades. Heck, you could probably already get into MIT."

"Mr. Stark, I like school. I like my friends at school. Plus, May never wanted me to skip grades because I was so small. She thought it would just 'cause problems'." Peter shrugged as he gathered up his homework. "Plus it gives me another couple years to figure out how I'm paying for college."

Peter walked out of the living room to return everything to his room leaving Tony sitting at the table, musing over what Peter had just said. Tony knew without a doubt he would pay the kids' college tuition. He also knew Peter well enough at this point that telling him that outright would not go over well. He had similar conversations with May. It was ridiculous that she worked as much as she did. He had offered, well everything. He had contemplated buying their entire apartment building and dropping everyone's rent to an insanely low amount but ultimately came to the conclusion that it probably wouldn't have gone over well. Plus Pepper brought up some kind of legal aspect about rent control and regulations.

"Hey, are you coming?" Peter called from the elevator.

"Yeah kid, on my way."


	10. Chapter 10 - Change of Status

Peter could feel the flames flickering against his back. Wrapping one arm tightly around the tiny child in his arms he flicked a web out through the already broken window and swung through it tucking his chin against the child wrapped in his arm. He could hear the upper floors of the building collapsing behind him and the screams coming from below him. He landed lightly on his toes next to the fire truck and unwrapped his free arm from the child he had swung with from the burning building. He gently placed the child on the ground and crouched to look at him. "Are you ok buddy?" The little boy looked at him, soot covering his cheeks. "Spider-man, that was awesome! Can we swing again?" The little boys mother finally reached him, pulling the young boy into her arms. "Spider-man, I don't know how to thank you for saving him!" She had tears in her eyes as she hugged the little boy tightly. "No problem ma'am. Glad I was nearby!" Reaching over and scruffing the boy's hair he replied to his question, "No more swinging tonight buddy. Stay safe!" With that he flicked his wrist and swung to the roof of a neighboring building. He looked back when he heard cheering and gave a little wave before swinging to the next building and landing on the roof. Sitting down he sucked in a deep breath and watched he flames start to subside as the fire fighters started winning the fight.

"Peter, incoming text from MJ." A smile spread across Peters face, "Thanks Karen, put it up on the HUD and can you run diagnostics. The suit seems off.

_"Are you okay?"_

_"You're all over the news"._

_"Good job but you better not be hurt."_

Peter's smile faded a little at the rapid fire texts.

_"I'm fine. What do you mean all over the news?"_

Before MJ could respond, Karen's even voice piped through Peter's ears. "Peter, suit integrity is at 89%." Sighing again he responded, "I'm scheduled to go work in the lab with Mr. Stark this weekend. We can fix it then. Can you turn the heater on? It's a little chilly."

"Peter, it's 45 degrees and the heater as well as most of the surveillance options were damaged by the heat." Before he could respond, Karen continued, "Incoming call from Mr. Stark. Would you like it on your HUD?" Frowning slightly, Peter wondered why Mr. Stark was calling. He thought he was tied up in DC until mid day tomorrow.

"Hey kid! FRIDAY sent me the news footage of your save tonight. Great job! You looked good! Anything broken?"

Peter could tell he was either still at his meeting or had just left. Why was FRIDAY sending him news footage? Focusing, Peter responded "I think I fried something in the suit. Karen ran diagnostics. Heater and surveillance are down plus some other systems."

"Kid, I meant you. Are you ok? Nothing burned, nothing broken?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"Your definition of fine or my definition of fine?"

"Yours. Nothing broken, no blood, no burns. Just a little cold."

"Ok Pete, have Karen send FRIDAY the diagnostics and we'll tee up repairs tomorrow afternoon. I get back in right before you're out of school so why don't I pick you up?".

Peter gave up arguing with Mr. Stark a while back. "Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Kid, call it a night and get somewhere you can warm up."

Peter glanced at the texts from MJ. "I'll swing by MJ's and change, her parents are at a movie and she's only a few blocks from here. Ned's got relatives visiting so there's no way I'd go unnoticed."

"Whatever. If your body temp doesn't start rising in 15 minutes I'm sending a suit for you." Tony paused and took off his glasses. "Pete, I'm proud of you. You really did good tonight." He paused again. "You and MJ are still just friends, right? I don't have to be worried about unsupervised teenagers?"

Turning slightly red under the mask, Peter grinned at Mr. Stark. "Just friends. Thanks Mr. Stark. I'm headed to MJ's now. See you tomorrow."

"Karen, text MJ and ask if it's ok if I stop by and change." Peter glanced over at the text stream and saw her quick "yes" and headed that way.

* * *

Peter landed on the fire escape outside MJ's apartment and tapped lightly on the window. A moment later the window flew open and MJ's face appeared in the shadows of the room. "You know this is weird, right? Usually boys sneak into girls bedrooms to mess around when the parents are gone and not because the heater went out in their multimillion dollar superhero suit." Peter threw a leg over the window sill and pulled himself into the apartment dropping his backpack on the floor and pulling his mask off. "Trust me, I know my life is not normal." He took a moment and looked around MJ's bedroom. Comfortingly it was a lot like he had imagined it. It suited her. He dropped his mask on the bookshelf and looked back at her, shivering a little with the open window to his back.

MJ wrinkled up her nose. "You smell like a fire. There's no way I can explain that so here...". She shoved a towel into his hands. "Bathroom is through there. Hot water will probably warm you up faster anyway." She stepped aside so he could walk past her.

Chagrined, he took the towel and mumbled "sorry" as he headed to the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Tapping the spider on the front of his suit it released and he pulled it off. Holding it up he grimaced at the burn marks on the suit. Folding it pulled his clothes out and sat them on the counter and reached into the shower and turned on the hot water.

MJ stared at Peter's back as he walked to the bathroom. If she thought too hard about it the whole situation was surreal. But, truth be told, she liked it. She didn't like normal and Peter was the furthest thing from normal. She sighed and looked back at the window to shut it. As she pulled it down she noticed the mask. Curiosity got the better of her and she picked it up and ran her fingers over the outside texture. Before she thought any more about it she pulled it over her head.

"Hello MJ. It's nice to finally talk to you." Karen's soft voice rang clearly in her ears. Peter has told her about Karen but to experience it in person was totally different. "Hi? Um, Karen, right?"

"Yes." Karen replied expectantly.

"Peter said he wasn't injured but he tends to hide his injuries. Can you confirm that he's not hurt?"

"Yes, MJ. Peter did not sustain any injuries tonight. He did quite well rescuing people from the building. Now that he's able to warm up he should have no lingering effects."

MJ thought she detected a hint of pride when Karen was talking about Peter, but that was silly. AI's didn't do that, right?

"MJ, Mr. Stark has various protocols set up to ensure Peter's safety. One of which is the "I'm not fine" protocol. If Peter is injured during a patrol Mr. Stark is notified so he can react accordingly. Would you like to be added to the notification list? I could text you if Peter sustains an injury. This would exclude life threatening injuries since that is handled via a different protocol."

MJ hadn't expected the AI to be so forthcoming. When Peter has talked about her he did so as if she were an actual human and now MJ understood why. "Yes please." She didn't want to ask too many questions in case it prompted the AI to talk to Peter or Mr. Stark about it. "Thank you Karen. I'm going to take the mask off now. It was nice to talk to you."

MJ pulled the mask off and looked towards the bathroom door. She could hear the water turning off. She brought the mask into the kitchen with her and started to make hot chocolate. The few study sessions she, Ned, and Peter had, he had always picked hot chocolate when offered. He never went the coffee route like she typically did. By the time she was done with the hot chocolate he was exiting the bathroom fully dressed toweling off his hair. His curls that were normally tamed were flopping across his forehead. They were cute. She reached over and grabbed the towel from his hand exchanging it for a mug of hot chocolate.

"Thanks." Peter took the hot chocolate and took a sip sighing as the warmth hit his mouth. Even with a hot shower he was still a little chilled. He picked up the mask of stuffed it into his backpack that he had brought with him from the bathroom.

"Go sit down. You still look cold and you're not leaving until you warm up some more." MJ picked up her mug of hot chocolate and followed him into the living room, sitting on the couch, gesturing for him to sit. "So spiders don't thermoregulate the way a human does. Does that mean you have trouble regulating your temperature now?"

Peter wrinkled his nose and thought about it. "It takes me longer to warm up and cool down than it used to but I think it's also related to my metabolism." He glanced over at MJ. Talking about spider stuff with MJ was weird. He didn't want her to think he was weird. Which he was. He frowned and looked down at his mug of hot chocolate and finished it as a distraction.

"Peter, get out of your head. I'm not asking because I think it's weird. I'm asking so I know how to help you." MJ sat her mug on the table and leaned over to look him in the eye. "I don't think you're weird."

Peter looked up at her, not knowing how to respond. MJ reached over and took the mug from his hands and sat it on the table. Instead of sitting back down, she leaned over and kissed him.

It was 100% not what Peter expected.

MJ sat back and looked at Peter, "Don't make this weird."

Peter grinned. "Out of everything in my life that is weird this is not one of them." Leaning forward he kissed her.

* * *

Peter thought he heard a faint beeping but all he could focus on was MJ. He had no desire to stop what they were doing. MJ finally pulled away and grabbed his wrist. "Your watch is annoying." Peter looked down and tapped the face to see the message.

_"Pete, are you ok? Your heart rate just went through the roof."_

Hoping he wasn't quite as red as he felt, he tapped a quick message out.

_"I'm fine."_

_"212 beats per minute is not fine."_

Wishing he was not having this conversation now but he knew that Mr. Stark would over react and an Iron Man suit would be making an appearance if he didn't give him an explanation he quickly tapped out a response.

_"Moving past just friends. Can we please not talk about this now. I'm not dying."_

After a few seconds pause he saw the response and groaned inwardly.

_"Be careful. I'm not ready for Spider Babies!"_

Peter stared at the message on his watch. He quickly tapped the screen again so MJ couldn't see it. Spider-babies. That was ridiculous.

As much as Peter would have liked to stay where he was, he and MJ both realized that her parents would be home soon and his curfew was rapidly approaching too. He still had to take the subway to make it home since he didn't trust the suit nor did he want to swing around in 45 degree weather without a functioning heater.

"Peter, promise me you won't make this weird tomorrow at school." MJ stood at the open door.

Peter shrugged and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You know I'll be completely awkward about it so you might want to think up some ground rules."

MJ laughed. "Fine. Text me when you're on the subway."

* * *

Peter opened the door of the apartment quietly in case May was asleep. He saw the light on in the kitchen and popped his head in the doorway. "Hey May, I'm home."

"I'm glad your home honey! How was your night?"

She obviously hadn't turned on the TV. He had even seen someone watching a replay on the subway. "It was good." He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a banana. "Saved a kid from a fire."

May turned around and scrutinized him, "You're not hurt, right?"

"I'm fine." It was starting to get a little annoying that everyone kept asking him if he was hurt. He knew somewhere in his brain that it's because they cared about his wellbeing but a tiny part of him kept thinking it was because they thought he couldn't handle things by himself. He pushed both thoughts back and finished the banana in two bites tossing the peel in the trash. "I'm heading to bed. See you in the morning. Love you May." Kissing her on the cheek, he headed for his room.

* * *

Peter's alarm jarred him awake. He slammed his hand on his phone to shut it off, sending it skidding across his nightstand and onto the floor, alarm still ringing. For as great as his night ended, he had a terrible time sleeping. Maybe it was coming off of the adrenaline from the fire and then the surprise change of status with MJ that had left him tossing and turning all night. He didn't even remember what he dreamed about, all he knew was that it wasn't the nightmare about being crushed. It did leave him with anxiety sitting on his chest which was almost as bad as the building. Kicking the covers off he got up and silenced the alarm.

He debated crawling back into bed but decided against it. Grabbing his backpack he had thrown on the floor last night he pulled out his suit and looked at it again. He wasn't sure how he hadn't gotten burned. One entire shoulder was blackened. Folding it back up he put it in his backpack and checked to make sure he had all of his books before heading into the bathroom to try to do something with his hair which he knew was probably sticking up.

After spending 20 minutes trying to get the curls to flatten, he ended up leaving late and almost missing the train. He ran up the stairs as the first bell rang. He'd have time to find Ned and MJ before heading to his least favorite class English Lit. Opening his locker and sliding in his backpack, he heard Ned walking up behind him. He could also smell MJ's shampoo so he knew she was also there.

"MJ was just filling me in!" Ned's hushed tones made it seem suspicious.

Peter shut his locker and looked at MJ with a panicked look. The ground rules were they weren't going to make a big deal out of it until they got more comfortable with it.

"The fire, dork." MJ gave him a look he couldn't quite read but he assumed it was something along the lines of 'you're an idiot'. She handed him a protein bar and turned to Ned. "You should look online and see if anyone has the news footage. Spider-Man looked good."

Peter opened the protein bar and took a bite. He didn't even think to grab something to eat when he was leaving this morning. He absentmindedly wondered if this is what MJ was going to do now...feed him.

"I'm going to the compound tonight to make repairs. There's a bunch of systems down." Peter finished the protein bar and gave MJ a look of thanks.

"Are you spending all weekend there?" MJ's question was innocent but Peter was 99% sure it wasn't.

"No, just tonight." The bell rang and the group parted, MJ heading to Chemistry and Ned and Peter heading to English Lit. Pulling out his phone he texted MJ _"Want to go to a movie tomorrow night?"_ He smiled at the quick response of _"Maybe"_. Dating was hard. Way harder than being a superhero.

* * *

For as much as he was dragging at the beginning of the day, school actually passed remarkably fast. Before he knew it, the dismissal bell was ringing and he was climbing into the front seat of the now familiar Audi.

Peter could feel Mr. Stark scrutinizing him for injuries. "I told you I was fine."

"Yeah, but I finally had a chance to look at the diagnostics Karen sent and I'm not sure how you're fine." FRIDAY was driving so Tony didn't have to keep his eyes on the road. "Let me see."

Peter reached down and pulled the suit out of his bag. Unfolding it, he displayed the burned shoulder. "Yeah, to be honest I'm not sure how I didn't get burned at least a little."

Tony took the suit out of Peter's hands and looked at the burned area. He turned and eyed Peter's corresponding shoulder.

"Seriously. There's nothing." Peter pulled the arm of his shirt up and displayed the back of his shoulder.

"I think you lucked out. We need to look at making you fireproof." Tony pulled at one of the filaments and watched it disintegrate between his fingers. He folded the suit back up and handed it back to Peter. "So...MJ...do we need to have some kind of talk?"

Peter could feel his face turn what he was sure was a brilliant red. "No! We do not need to talk about this." He could see the amusement on Mr. Stark's face.

"Kid. You're 15. Enjoy it." Tony grinned at Peter's obvious discomfort.

"Mr. Stark, I swear if you tell me to stay in the grey area..."

Tony's grin turned into a full blown laugh. "Relax. Last time I'll mention it. Just know that if you need an adult male's input..."

"I can ask Colonel Rhodes." Peter's eyes twinkled in obvious enjoyment at ribbing Mr. Stark.

Tony quickly wiped the shocked look off his face. "Oh, kid...you have no idea who you're messing with."

* * *

Tony rubbed his hand over his face. The more they looked at the suit the more obvious it was that it would be easier to just make a new one.

"But...it's my suit. And it's just one tiny area. We've made bigger repairs before."

Peter's voice had a sad, pleading tone, which Tony fully understood. Every time he upgraded to a new suit part of him felt like it was saying goodbye to a friend. He had made the comment before that he and the suit were one. There was a lot of truth to it and he knew what the kid was feeling.

"I know, but the bright side to a new suit is upgrades. Plus, you can have a hand in the design." He could tell Peter wasn't quite seeing the positive spin he was trying to put on the situation. "Come on, let me show you something."

Peter followed gave a mournful look at his suit and followed Mr. Stark to the elevator. They got off on a floor he hadn't been to before. It was in the area of the compound that access was occasionally granted to the public. It was somewhere near where Happy had taken Peter when he turned down being an avenger. Mr. Stark opened a door and waited for Peter to enter. "FRIDAY, lights"

Peter glanced around the room and his jaw dropped. Lights turned on through the expansive hall illuminating what he could only describe as an Avenger museum. Mr. Stark's original suit was on display as well as Captain America's. He could see one of Hawkeye's bows, Black Widow's gear, something that looked like it belonged to Thor. His brain short circuited a little and almost couldn't take in everything.

"It was Pepper's idea. To work on our PR image a little bit. Not sure how she's planning on making it work and in light of the Accords and the fact that the rest of the team have warrants out for their arrest, it definitely won't be revealed any time soon, but...you suit can find a home here." Tony watched Peter's face as he took in everything.

"But, I'm not an Avenger."

"This isn't about being an Avenger. It's about heroes. And you most definitely are one of those." Tony couldn't read the expression on Peter's face but he thought he might have broken him. He could see the muscle in his jaw clinching a little bit. He knew it was something he did when he was had made a decision that he was going to do something. Same look he had when he got out of Toomes' car and Tony knew he had decided to go after him. Same look he got when he was presented with something in the lab he didn't understand.

Peter wasn't sure about everything Mr. Stark was saying but he understood the message. Everyone had to change. Mr. Stark's current Iron Man suit looked almost nothing like the earlier ones. It was less bulky and the nanotech they were working on would make the next one even more streamlined. Looking around he realized he had forgotten what Captain America's original suit looked like. It also dawned on him that the Captain America he had fought in Germany was not the same Captain America depicted in front of him. And the Mr. Stark he knew now was not the Tony Stark that had built a crazy suit in a cave in Afghanistan. Everyone changes.

"So upgrades?" Peter looked up at Mr. Stark and smiled.

* * *

Pepper walked out of the bedroom. She was going to kill Tony. Usually he was the one who woke up having a nightmare. And this one was entirely his fault but not in the usually manner. She made her way to the kitchen and realized she wasn't the only one in there. Peter stood in front of the open refrigerator staring aimlessly. "Peter, are you ok?"

He turned his head towards her, "Sorry if I woke you Pepper. Bad dream. I was thinking of making hot chocolate. Want some?" Peter reached into the refrigerator to pull out the milk. Unlike last night he completely remembered the dream that had woken him up.

Pepper reached past him, "Why don't I help. And you didn't wake me up."

A few minutes later they were both armed with hot chocolate and settled into the corners of the couch. Pepper looked over her mug at Peter. "Want to tell me what the dream was about."

"It's stupid. Something Mr. Stark said last night put a visual in my head that I cannot get rid of."

Pepper laughed, "Let me guess...spider-babies?"

Peter's eyes darted up, "You too?"

Pepper nodded. "You know I'm pretty sure that can't happen."

"I know. I mean the logical side of my brain knows that but the rest of my brain has now gotten carried away. We don't actually know what happened to me. We've studied it a little but it's like both of us are afraid of opening Pandora's box. What if it keeps mutating and I end up an actual spider. What if it means I can't ever have children. What if it means I can have children but they're even more mutated than I am. What if the radiation does something to people who are in close proximity to me for too long? I should just tell MJ we need to go back to the way things were."

Pepper put her mug on the side table. "Peter stop." Once she had his attention she continued, "Your Tony is showing."

"What?"

"Tony does what you just did all the time. It's part of what makes him such a wonderful innovator. He not only sees possibilities but he sees five steps beyond that possibility. It's allowed him to create all the things he has but it also gives him almost crippling anxiety at times. You're exactly like him - you just took what was meant to be a joke, albeit a horrible one, and took it five steps out." She waited for what she had said to sink in before continuing, "You're 15 years old. Enjoy it. Date MJ. Be careful, but you're both incredibly smart and I don't think that will be an issue. Ten or even twenty years from now if you want to talk about having kids, we can figure it out. But there is no reason for you to be stressing about that now."

Peter let what Pepper said roll around in his head for a moment. "Thanks Pepper. I guess it's a little ridiculous to worry so much about this."

"Definitely."

"Ok, I know why I had a bad dream about this, why did you?"

"No offense, but I'm not a fan of spiders. The mental image was just a little too much."

Peter laughed, "Pepper, if I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone?"

"Of course sweetheart."

"I'm terrified of spiders. I mean full on arachnophobia. Even the tiny ones."


	11. Chapter 11 - I am not FINE

Peter crouched on the edge of the building, it was not the tallest by any means but it was up there. He had gotten over his fear of being up so high after Washington and found it relaxing now. The sounds from the streets below were muffled when he was up that high. It was nice. But it also meant he couldn't hear if someone was in trouble. Checking to make sure he had enough fluid in his web-shooters he took a running jump off of the edge of the building and free fell half the distance to the ground before shooting a web that caught on the building next to and propelled him above the streets. Man, he loved swinging through New York. He slowed down and followed movement with his eyes. New Yorkers were always rushing around but the sight that caught his attention wasn't the normal hustle and bustle. He counted five men, three ahead with two trailing. He watched the three in front dodge around cars. The two trailing figures were catching up. Peter followed watching the men run towards a less populated area. He knew the area well and knew the three lead men would be boxed in. Swinging ahead he perched on a light pole to watch. He had learned not to interfere until he knew more about what was going on. Mr. Stark had called it 'growth'.

Multiple things happened at one. Peter was quick but not quick enough. The short blonde guy being chased turned and pulled out what Peter thought at first was a gun. As he was getting ready to fire a web to jerk the weapon out of the man's hands, the tall red headed guy who had been doing the chasing pulled out his own weapon that most definitely was not a gun. Almost simultaneously, Peter had Karen in his ear, "Peter, that weapon is of alien origin. Calling Mr. Stark." Before Peter could respond, the weapon was fired at the short blond guy who all the sudden wasn't short and blonde. He was green. And not human.

"Holy Shit!" Peter froze for a moment to take in the scene below him.

"Kid, that is not the way to answer the phone if you don't want to give me a heart attack."

Mr. Stark's voice prompted him to move. Firing webs at everyone and jumping to the ground he managed to snag some part of everyone to slow them down. Which also brought their attention to him. "Mr. Stark...aliens...I am NOT fine or whatever the hell you called it." Peter ducked away from a blast from one of the weapons. He could hear the thrusters on the Iron Man suit so he knew Mr. Stark was on his way. He also thought he heard the whine of a repulsor so he hoped the empty suit was making an appearance too. He focused on the man...correction alien, closest to him and fired a taser web at him. It seemed to knock him down but didn't knock him out. "Karen, up the charge."

"Kid, talk to me."

Peter shot another taser web at the alien, this time knocking it out. His spider sense prompted him to move just in time to avoid a shot from one of the alien weapons. It blasted a hole in the wall behind him. An Iron Man suit landed in front of him taking the brunt of another blast before firing back and knocking the alien down. "There's five of them. Two are down." He looked back at the one he had knocked down and saw him moving. "Oh come on. Karen up the charge again." He fired the taser web with one hand, knocking the guy out again, grabbed the weapon with webs from his other side and yanked it up securing it twenty feet in the air against the building.

The Iron Man suit was engaging with two of the other aliens. Peter focused on the remaining free one that was coming directly towards him. Peter darted to the side, missing the blast from the weapon. He jumped on the side of a building and fired the taser webs hitting the alien square in the chest. Unfortunately this alien didn't go down. He was still standing, and firing. Peter launched himself off the building flipping over the alien firing taser webs. Karen had upped the voltage herself because this time they took the guy down. "Stay down! Mr. Stark, how far out?" Peter landed and glanced over at the empty suit and saw it take another hit before it fired the gauntlet repulsor at it. His spider sense told him to move again as he narrowly missed the blast from the alien that had broken free of the Iron Man suit. Rolling he landed in a crouch and got ready to fire another taser web when an Iron Man suit landed in front of him and fired both gauntlet repulsors driving the attacking alien to the ground. Peter launched himself up and fired web grenades at the alien he had tasered that was now getting up again. Completely wound up in webs, the alien struggled against them. Peter fired another grenade completely covering him before moving to help subdue the remaining aliens. He turned just in time to see an Iron Man suit take a blast to the chest driving it to the ground. "Tony!"

"Other suit, kid."

Peter glanced behind him and saw Iron Man, Tony, firing at one of the remaining aliens. Muttering "Ok" to himself in reassurance he looked back at the other figures. One of the previously stunned aliens got to his feet and charged Peter. The alien collided into him tackling him to the ground. Peter recovered quicker but was too close to web him. The alien seemed to have lost his weapon, if he had one to begin with, and resorted to throwing a punch. Peter caught the fist before it impacted with him and shoved the alien far enough back that he could web him to the ground. He turned and flung web grenades at all of the remaining aliens just as three black SUV's pulled into the area.

"Kid, head to the safe house. I'll meet you there."

"Mr. Stark". Peter watched people exit the SUVs, not missing the tall man with an eyepatch.

"Spider-Man, non negotiable. I don't want Fury near you."

"Yes sir." Peter gave a final look at the aliens covered with webs to make sure they weren't moving and flung his wrist to shoot a web to the nearest building, swinging himself higher and away from the area.

* * *

"Fury, do you want to tell me why there are aliens in New York?" Tony didn't bother sliding back the face mask. He didn't want Fury to see how mad he was or how worried he was. FRIDAY had already interfaced with Karen and had told him Peter was not hurt. He still wanted to see for himself.

Nick Fury stepped over the unconscious alien body. He couldn't tell which one it was because it was completely covered in webs. "Apparently they like the night life. You want to tell me why they're covered in webs? Or should we skip to the part where you lie to me about Spider-Man's involvement in this?"

"Oh, Spider-Man was here, watching out for the neighborhood. You can thank him that you have live aliens to interrogate. The webs should wear off in a couple hours."

Nick eyed the white lumps surrounding him. Then noticed the weapons webbed to the building. "Tell Spider-Man I want to talk to him."

"No." Tony didn't trust himself to say more. This is exactly what he didn't want to happen.

"Tony, I am not on Ross's side. I just want to know what he saw so we can figure out what's going on. From what we're hearing the three that were being chased were a Skrull faction in hiding in New York. The two chasing them are Kree. None of them are supposed to be here. I'm telling you so you can play go between. I need to know what Spider-Man saw." Fury crossed his arms waiting for Stark's response.

"Sorry, can't help." Tony blasted off, grabbing the weapon Peter had webbed to the wall. He knew Fury would show up to reclaim it but it would give him a chance to analyze it.

* * *

Tony landed on the roof of the building that housed the safe house. He had picked it because the surrounding buildings blocked any view of an Iron Man suit coming and going. He activated the entrance and walked into the main area. Looking around he didn't see Peter at first.

"Mr. Stark!"

Looking up, he watched Peter flip off of the ceiling and land in front of him. His mask was still on, probably so he could have Karen talk to FRIDAY and get updates.

Peter pulled off his mask and looked up at Tony. The Iron Man armor retracted, leaving Tony standing in front of him in jeans and t-shirt. "Pete, are you ok?" Tony took a step forward and reached out to push Peter's hair away from a cut on his forehead. It was already healing, which was a good sign.

"What the hell was that?"

If a person could vibrate, that's how Tony would have described Peter. Anxiety was coming off of him in waves. Tony put his hand on Peter's shoulder. The action had the intended effect of grounding Peter enough where he could focus. "Pete, look at me. You're not hurt, right?"

"I'm not hurt." Peter swallowed and looked up at Tony. "Those were not humans. But they looked like humans. And then they didn't. At least some of them didn't. And then one of the ones that still looked human looked like they were glowing. The Iron Man suit got destroyed by one of those weapons. SHIELD was there and what the hell..."

"Pete. Stop. Focus. You're ok. I'm ok. I don't know what that was about but those are the only two things that matter right now." Tony put both hands on Peter's shoulders, grounding him.

Peter nodded. He could feel both of Tony's hands gripping his shoulders. The pressure was helping. His brain was spinning in multiple directions all at once but the longer Tony kept his hands on his shoulders the more it slowed down.

"You good?"

Peter nodded. Tony squeezed his shoulders once more before letting go.

"Happy will be here in a little while to pick us up."

Peter wrinkled his brow in confusion, "Pick us up?"

"To head back to the compound."

"I have school tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're not going to school tomorrow. I'll call in for you." Tony saw the confusion on Peter's face, "Superhero rule, you fight aliens, you take the day off. Trust me."

* * *

Tony sat on the couch, flipping through reports on his tablet, not really retaining anything he was looking at. He was waiting for the inevitable notification from FRIDAY, which happened exactly 73 minutes after Peter had fallen asleep.

"Boss, Peter...". Tony cut her off, "Got it FRIDAY." He trotted down the hall to Peter's room, gently pushing open the door as he heard a stifled "NO! Tony!" and a thud.

"Lights at 10%". Tony waited for his eyes to adjust slightly and tilted his head to look at Peter who was about three feet off the floor on the wall. He crossed the room until he was standing in front of him. "Pete?" He couldn't tell if he was still asleep or if the nightmare had fully woken him. Blurry eyes focused on his and Peter let out a sigh, dropping his feet to the floor. "Mr. Stark." Tony didn't need enhanced hearing to know that the kid's heart was still pounding. Mimicking what he had done earlier, he put his hands on Peter's shoulders. "You're ok. It was just a nightmare." He felt Peter lean back against the wall.

"I'm sorry I woke you."

"Nope. Stop right there. This is the very reason I wanted you to come back to the compound." Tony watched Peter's eyes track up to meet his.

"You knew?" Peter knew his question sounded defensive but his mind was still spinning. The mental image of an Iron Man suit with a hole blown through its chest made him sick to his stomach. And now Mr. Stark was having to deal with his nightmare.

It took Tony a second to figure out where Peter's train of thought was headed. Once he realized, he knew he had to shut it down immediately. "Having a nightmare after what just happened does not make you weak."

"It sure feels like it." Peter stared at the wall, not wanting to look at Tony.

"Then every single Avenger is weak." Tony couldn't help but smile a little when Peter's eyes snapped up to his again. "Sit." He pushed Peter over to the bed then sat next to him stretching his legs out in front of him. "We all get nightmares. The things we chose to deal with are enough to push anyone over the edge." He waited to let his words sink in.

Peter played with the edge of the sheet as he digested what Tony was telling him. He tilted his head and looked over.

"Everyone deals with it differently. Cap would run. A lot. Bruce cooked. Some of it edible, but not all of it. Clint probably handled things the best. He'd go home and see his wife and kids and come back fine. He probably compartmentalized a lot but it was still a better method than the rest. Natasha would dance. There's a room off one of the gyms with nothing more than a wall of mirrors and a ballet bar. I think it was her way to show herself she was still in control."

Peter allowed himself to smile a little. Iron Man was sitting on his bed telling him that all of his childhood hero's had issues coping with 'hero stuff'. It was hard to believe but then again so was the fact that Iron Man was sitting on his bed.

Tony continued, "I by far had the worst coping skills. After New York, I didn't sleep. I'd act like it, Pepper would fall asleep, then I'd head for the lab and work all night. I built 35 different suits. It was not a healthy way to deal with it. You get to benefit from my many mistakes with coping mechanisms. And you're going to skip over all the bad ones." Tony adjusted on the bed and shoved a pillow behind him. "So, if that means I hang out in here with you until you fall asleep that's what we do. And if you have a nightmare I'll be there to make sure you're ok."


	12. Chapter 12 - Debrief

"Did you get anything other than 'I'm out sick today?'"

MJ looked around the hall to make sure no one was paying attention before answering Ned in a hushed tone. "No, just the same text you got."

"Do you think he got hurt last night?" Worry seeped through Ned as he fell into step with MJ as they threaded their way through the hall.

MJ knew he hadn't gotten hurt because true to her word, Karen sent her texts detailing minor injuries. Maybe he was more seriously injured and Karen had sent the text to keep them from worrying. She pulled out her phone. _"Ned and I are both worried that you're dead. Text me back and let me know that you're not hooked up to machines in the compound MedBay."_ She had expected a text back immediately. It didn't show up until an hour later.

_"I'm not hurt. I am at the compound though. I'll call you after school."_

She showed Ned the text in the hall between classes.

"I wonder if he's on a super secret mission?" Ned mused to MJ as they parted and headed to different classes. MJ shrugged but frowned as she walked into her class. Ned pulled out his phone and tapped out a quick text. _"Super secret mission? Are you having to leave the country? Is Thor there?"_

* * *

Peter put his phone face down on the table and leaned back in his chair. "Ned just asked me if I'm on a super secret mission with Thor. I need a cover story because I can't tell them about aliens in Queens. Right?" Peter was pretty sure he couldn't tell them but at this point the last 24 hours had been strange enough that he wasn't entirely sure.

"Yeah, no, you can't tell them about aliens." Tony was looking at FRIDAY's progress in searching for any information on the two names Fury had given him yesterday as well as seeing how the analysis was coming on the weapon he had recovered.

"Just tell them you're hurt and in MedBay."

Tony and Peter looked at Rhodey. Tony's quick "No" came out first quickly followed by Peter saying he had already assured them multiple times he wasn't hurt.

"You lie about being hurt all the time." Rhodey didn't see why this wasn't a good solution.

The three of them sat around a table in one of the conference rooms. Tony had debated whether this was a good idea. Ultimately it was Rhodey who reminded him that it was easier to move past something if you confronted it as soon as you could. Tony didn't want Peter waking up nightly with the image of a hole punched through the chest of an Iron Man suit. So, they had downloaded all of the footage from Karen as well as FRIDAY, who had access to both Iron Man suits' recordings.

"Are you two ready to start reviewing footage?" Rhodey looked at Peter to make sure he understood what they were doing. Peter still tended to get his feelings hurt when they reviewed training footage. He held himself to a much higher standard than anyone else ever could. From what Rhodey had seen the kid did a good job for his first alien fight.

"We'll start with watching it from start to finish and then we'll go piece by piece and make notes." Tony had put Peter in between himself and Rhodey and he made sure the kid was within arms reach. Last night had not been good. The first nightmare wasn't the only one. They weren't all of the Iron Man suit getting destroyed. They morphed into a building coming down. He figured the kid had nightmares related to the Vulture incident, but he hadn't known they got that bad. "FRIDAY, start it."

Karen's feed picked up from Peter free falling off a building. Tony's own anxiety level skyrocketed but it seemed to settle Peter's. The feed from Peter's point of view followed the five men running through alleys and processed through the initial fight, the arrival of the empty Iron Man suit, and the eventual arrival of Tony.

Tony knew the suit's destruction was coming up and he turned his attention to Peter. He had to give the kid credit. He kept watching through it, his face frozen. After the suit's destruction and he knew Pete wasn't going to freak out, Tony turned his attention back to the feed. At least he did until he heard Rhodey trying to stifle a laugh.

"Is there something funny about aliens running through Queens?" Tony looked at Rhodey in dismay. It wasn't like him. Usually it was Tony cracking jokes through the debriefs.

"It's just that the kids' language gets worse and worse as it goes on."

Tony turned his attention back to the feed in time to hear a sting of expletives. Turning, he stared at Peter in disbelief.

"What? I have two defense mechanisms. The other one is terrible puns." Peter looked between the two men. Rhodey was fighting a laugh and Mr. Stark just looked horrified. "Can we get back to the debrief?"

Tony shook his head. "Ok, from the top. At what point did you think something was not quite right?"

"The way they were running through the alleys. It definitely looks like those two are chasing the other guys. But, I thought it might be some kind of gang thing." Peter shrugged.

They worked their way through the video feeds, stopping periodically to comment on something that either Peter or the aliens had done. They rolled through the empty Iron Man suit being destroyed. Tony didn't stop the video feed. He didn't know what to tell Peter. He couldn't stop in the middle of a fight like he had but he didn't know how to tell a 15 year old who had lost too many people in his life that. He did stop it when Peter engaged with the alien after being tackled.

"Stop. Peter, what do you think you could have done differently?" Tony watched Peter's expression. He knew this was hard.

"I don't know. He was too close to use webs." Peter looked at the screen. The Skrull was frozen. It looked alien...which was exactly what it was.

"I know you don't like to physically engage." Tony almost laughed at the understatement. It wasn't that Peter didn't like to engage. He flat out wouldn't engage. Tony had tried a multitude of biofeedback techniques and he still couldn't get the kid comfortable enough to actually hit something. Peter looked at it as the only way to keep him from killing somebody. Now somebodies apparently extended to aliens. Tony sighed inwardly. It was a conversation they had already had too many times. "You do know that you could have knocked him down with a single hit and he would have stayed down."

"And he could have stayed down permanently." Peter sucked in a breath. "I know you understand that I don't want to kill anyone. Hell, you even said you never wanted me to be in that position." Peter took another breath in an attempt to calm down. "Why don't you understand this." Peter looked at Tony, his eyes pleading for him to understand.

"What I don't understand is why you don't have an ounce of self preservation."

Rhodey looked between Tony and Peter. It's the same discussion they had been having for weeks and not getting anywhere with it. "How about we focus on the two aliens and not this. FRIDAY, have you found any mention of Skrull or Kree?"

Peter pushed his chair back and stood up. "I need to take a break." He walked out of the room without waiting for anyone to respond and headed upstairs.

Tony watched Peter walk out of the conference room. "Damn it".


	13. Chapter 13 - Not Alone

Peter slammed his bedroom door behind him and flopped onto his bed. He didn't even know what he was mad about. He was tired of having the same argument with Mr. Stark but this time was worse. He had never walked out of a room to end the argument. Thinking about it now, he had never walked out of a room on anybody in any situation.

He picked up a stress ball from the nightstand and started throwing it against the wall. He wasn't sure why it was there. He thought it might have been Ned's and it just ended up in his backpack and in turn on his nightstand. Throw, catch, throw, catch. The rhythmic thud was almost soothing. He knew he was tired. He had not expected that fighting aliens would send him reeling back into the endless loop of nightmares. The ones related to the Vulture had pretty much subsided. He'd have one every once in a while but it wasn't something he couldn't handle. Last night was bad. He hadn't handled it. He hadn't expected it. But Mr. Stark had. Peter felt like he should have handled it better. They were just aliens. It's not like everyone didn't know they existed. But he had flipped out. Flipped out over aliens. Flipped out over seeing an empty Iron Man suit get destroyed. The thud started getting louder. He didn't think it was hard enough to dent the wall but he backed off anyway. The thud got quieter as the rhythmic throw, catch continued. His door opened and he almost missed the ball that was flying back at his face. Almost.

Tony walked into Peter's bedroom and sat down in the desk chair. "Talk to me kid."

Peter swallowed and threw the ball against the wall a final time before dropping it on his stomach. "I can't be the hero you want me to be."

"Good. I don't want you to." Tony watched confusion streak across Peter's face. "If you're doing this because of someone else, me because you're trying to impress me or live up to the ideal of a childhood hero, or out of penance and the memory of your uncle, then you're doing it for the wrong reason and it's going to get you killed." Tony wheeled the chair closer to the bed so he knew he was in Peter's line of vision. "But, I don't think that's why you do it."

Peter blinked back a few stray tears, "Yeah? Why do you think I do it."

"Because a hero is who you are. Think back to the Stark Expo. When you dropped that little bombshell on me I realized that with or without the spider you are someone who will go to any length to protect people - even people you don't know. The spider just gives you the ability to do it a little more effectively."

Peter pushed himself into a sitting position on the bed. "I was just a stupid little kid at the Stark Expo."

"Peter."

Peter looked up at Mr. Stark's face. He couldn't remember Mr. Stark ever calling him 'Peter'. He had called him a multitude of nicknames - some better than others - but when he called him by his name it was always 'Pete'. Hearing him say 'Peter' was like when May would use his full name when he was in trouble. And it made him realize that he liked that Mr. Stark called him 'Pete'. He was the only one and it made it special. And now he was using 'Peter'. Crap.

Tony watched an array of emotion cross Peter's face. He realized that he used 'Peter' instead of 'Pete'. He wasn't sure what that meant but it almost felt like what he imagined to be a dad moment. Huh. Dismissing the thought he went back to the problem at hand. "There are so many things wrong with that sentence I don't even know where to begin. Stupid is not a word I would ever use to describe anything about you. And, I didn't see any other kid, or adult, standing in front of a drone. Everybody else was running. I've also seen you face down a variety of criminal elements including ones that have threatened to kill you. Your response is invalid. So try again."

Peter didn't know what he was supposed to say, so he changed subjects. "I want to stop fighting with you over my fighting skills. It's not that I don't have any self preservation instincts. In fact I have more because of the bite."

Tony sat back and studied Peter. Tony was a master at deflection so he recognized it from a mile away. But, he'd let the kid get away with it for now. He was curious where he was going with this. "I think we should stop fighting over it too. But I think we're arguing over different things. You don't know how to handle your strength and I haven't been able to help you so your answer is to do nothing. I don't like that as a solution because I do not want you to get hurt."

"So where does that leave us?" Peter pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

"That leaves us still looking for a solution." Tony crossed his arms and looked at Peter.

"That leaves us at an impasse. Neither one liking what the other one is doing." Peter challenged, looking over at Mr. Stark.

"I'll make a deal with you. I won't say another word about your fighting unless you get hurt. In exchange, you don't pitch a fit about me checking up on you."

Peter considered Mr. Stark's offer. It wasn't terrible. He nodded. "Ok." He took a deep breath. "Did FRIDAY find anything about the aliens?"

"Not yet. I think Fury might be here to retrieve the weapon so you and I are going to stay scarce." Tony stood up from the chair and headed for Peter's bedroom door.

Hopping up from his bed, Peter followed Mr. Stark out of his bedroom. "Great, does that mean we don't have to finish the debrief?"

Tony laughed, "You get a reprieve for now."

"Can we go work on the nanotech?" Peter asked hopefully.

"Nope. That's where the weapon is. You get to help me with some SI paperwork. It's like homework for adults. You'll be a natural." Tony grinned at the groan the comment elicited from Peter.

* * *

Peter had a chair pulled up to the other side of Tony's desk in his office. Tony had gone through all of the proposals and had pulled out the ones he knew Peter wouldn't have any problem vetting. Most of it was from R & D asking to take research to the next level which was usually either prototype construction or testing. It was interesting watching Peter read through each proposal. He asked good questions and made intuitive comments. He also found two mistakes in the math on two separate proposals. Tony couldn't wait to tell the people responsible for them that his 15 year old intern had found the errors - and corrected them.

Peter finished his stack and started reading through some of the ones Tony had finished. The processes were way more involved than what he was familiar with but he knew enough that he could follow the general idea for each one. "This is fun. I can't believer you don't like doing this." The stack on his desk was fairly large and Mr. Stark had let it slip that Pepper had gotten onto him because he had put off reviewing them for so long. It was one of the few things she forced him to do.

"It just gets monotonous. Trust me. If you do it long enough you won't like it any more either." Tony studied Peter. He was in a better mood than he was earlier but that just meant he had buried all of the problems. The voice in his head reminded him that he himself did that on a regular basis and it wasn't healthy. He started inventorying the problems in his head - his way of prioritizing so he could help fix it. Because that's what he did...fixed things. They had tabled the fighting issue. He had some ideas but it would take time. Until then he'd gotten the kid to agree to him monitoring a little closer. Problem two, the kid didn't see himself as a hero. That one bothered him the most because he didn't understand how he didn't think he was a hero. That was a longer play and was going to require some thought. The third problem - nightmares. They all had them, it came with the territory. He hated that Peter had them. No 15 year old should have to deal with waking up screaming. Peter had told him last night that the Vulture ones had pretty much stopped until they came back with a vengeance last night. He wasn't overly worried about the Vulture ones. He knew from experience that the initial nightmare from last night had triggered the rest of it. So that meant if he could work through the initial one with Peter, the other ones might subside too. "Hey, Pete...do you want to stay here tonight or head back after dinner?" The question was innocent but it the answer would tell Tony where Peter's head was.

"Umm...Can I stay here?"

So he was still worried about the nightmares. "Sure thing kiddo. I'll come up with a cover story for May."

Relief spread across Peter's face. "Thanks." He paused, unaware that Tony was scrutinizing his face as the thoughts played through his brain. "It's just that May doesn't deal very well with the Spider-Man stuff. I mean she's ok with me doing it, kind of, I think she just came to the same conclusion you did that I'm going to do it anyway and if she was on board with it, at least I wouldn't be sneaking out. But she never wants to hear details. She just wants to know that I'm not hurt. If...if I have another nightmare she won't be able to handle it."

That was way more than Tony expected and he wanted to keep the kid talking. "I get it. Pepper doesn't want details either. She just wants to know that I'm not dead."

Peter smiled. It was nice to know Mr. Stark had the same problem.

"I'm curious, when you had nightmares right after the thing with the Vulture..."

"How did May handle it? She freaked out with the first one so I ended up not sleeping for a week. Eventually I was so tired I crashed. I guess my brain was so tired it didn't have the energy to produce a nightmare. After that, when I'd have them I could manage to not wake her up and just deal with it."

It took everything Tony had not to, as Peter would call it, overreact. Peter had just dealt with it. By himself. "Ok, well, here's the thing. You're not alone. So, if you have a nightmare when you're not here, call me." He could tell Peter was about to protest. "I'm serious. Middle of the night, I want a call. I've dealt with nightmares on my own because I didn't want to burden anyone else and it sucks. It makes you feel isolated and alone. You are not alone."

Peter wrestled with what Mr. Stark was telling him. He couldn't call the man at 2am. Could he? It was nice to have someone else there last night. He realized that Mr. Stark was right when he said dealing with them alone made you feel isolated. That's definitely how he felt after the Vulture. But what if...Peter could feel his anxiety start to rise.

"Kid, you just went from calm to impending panic attack in about 10 seconds, talk to me."

"What if...what if you're not there?" Peter tried forcing himself to calm down. He thought he might be succeeding on the outside but his insides were screaming 'he'll die just like everybody else'.

It took Tony way longer than it should of to figure out what was going on inside Peter's head. Then it started clicking, Peter's father had died, Peter's uncle had died, Peter's nightmares from last night stemmed not from aliens, they were focused on the Iron Man suit getting destroyed. For someone so smart, he was quite possibly the densest person on the planet. He knew last night that Peter's issue was the Iron Man suit getting destroyed. Last night he was focused solely on getting Peter through the night. In the light of day his focus had been on the fact that the kid froze during a fight and wouldn't hit an alien. None of that was the actual problem. Peter's problem was the fact that virtually every male figure in his life had died. No, he corrected himself. Not just died, had been killed. And the man that was currently acting as male role model for Peter was an Avenger with a history of risking his life. Tony took a deep breath and pondered the words that were about to pour out of his mouth, "Pete, you and I both know that what we choose to do is dangerous so I'm not going to pretend like getting killed isn't a very real possibility. But, if you solely focus on the what if, it'll paralyze you and eventually destroy you. You aren't alone. I am literally a phone call away, 6 minutes by suit if I'm at the compound. Rhodey is a phone call away. I haven't upgraded his thrusters so it'll take him a little longer. Pepper is a phone call away. She refuses to use the suit I made for her so she's limited to as fast as Happy can drive, which incidentally is pretty darn fast when he's motivated. Happy, even though he doesn't act like it, is a phone call away. MJ and Ned are a phone call away. In face, I've changed my mind about letting you tell them about the aliens. They've both proved that they can keep a secret. The bottom line is you are not alone. You and I can work through the rest of it because believe it or not you and I are a lot alike. I know what it's like to have people you care about die."

For the second time in a day Peter blinked back the few stray tears that were threatening to fall. Having all of this in the open hurt. He felt exposed. But he also felt safe. He knew without a doubt that Mr. Stark had his best interest at heart. He still wasn't sure he could call him at 2am. But, it was nice to have the option if things got bad. "You know Ned is going to flip out over the fact that I saw an alien. He may ask to see footage."

Tony smiled, yep, the kid was exactly like him. Deflecting when things got tough. "Show him. Just tell him Iron Man will come find him if he tells anyone."


	14. Chapter 14 - Aliens and Accords

"Dude...aliens. Not just aliens but shape shifting aliens." Ned was sitting on the floor in Peter's living room. May was still at work. MJ tucked her legs under her where she sat on the couch next to Peter. They were supposed to be working on homework but Peter had taken the opportunity to fill them in on the events of the last couple days, starting with why he had missed school on Friday. Homework had taken a back seat at that point.

"Yeah, I know. They're green. At least some of them are. Mr. Stark hasn't found out why they're here. SHIELD doesn't know why they're here. Although I don't think Fury was surprised." Peter leaned back on the couch.

"You met Nick Fury?" Ned was almost squealing with delight.

"Uh...no. Mr. Stark made me leave. Something about not wanting Fury near me. He hasn't said it directly but I think it has something to do with the accords." Peter subconsciously leaned into MJ. She had her arm on the back of the couch and was playing with his hair. It felt nice. He wasn't sure if she was aware she was doing it. Then again, it was MJ and she almost always knew what she was doing.

"Probably the push to remove the underage limit in the latest round of amendments."

Peter looked at MJ and marveled at how and why she would know what was in the amendments. He didn't even know what was in the amendments and he spent a large amount of time with the man that was instrumental in getting the changes made. Granted he had never asked Mr. Stark but that was primarily because the one and only time he had mentioned it, Mr. Stark immediately got in a really bad mood.

"Oh, good point. That would mean Peter would have to register and the whole secret identity thing would be out the window." Ned leaned back against the chair and looked thoughtful.

"Wait, what?" Peter realized maybe he should have been talking to Mr. Stark about the accords and apparently he should have been paying attention in civics too.

"Yeah, Secretary Ross is pushing registration of any one remotely enhanced. So that would include enhanced individuals like you as well as mutants and anyone who uses specialized tech like Mr. Stark and Colonel Rhodes." Ned took a bite of his pizza. "Do you really not know about this? There was a huge blow up between Mr. Stark and Secretary Ross last week in D.C. It was all over the news. Before that they had been able to keep the amendment negotiations under wraps"

Ok, add watching the news to the list of things he should be doing. Peter dropped the piece of pizza he had been holding back onto the plate in his lap. How could he be this out of the loop on things that could completely wreck his life.

MJ tapped him on the neck to get his attention. "I'm pretty sure it's handled. King T'Challa from Wakanda stepped in and said he would not support registration of any kind. Wakanda is kind of a big deal right now so no one is going to go against him." She started playing with his hair again. "Ned and I would have been all over you if this was something that you needed to worry about. The whole thing blew over in about 24 hours. But Mr. Stark is probably just being extra cautious since it could have been a risk. So, back to aliens. What's the prevailing theory?"

Peter looked between MJ and Ned. "I don't think I tell you two enough how awesome you are. There is literally no one else that would sit here and have a conversation about aliens and not completely freak out. Or pay attention to international negotiations."

"Well, I don't know about MJ but I've been working under the assumption that as the Guy in the Chair, all of that was in the job description. It's totally worth it just to be able to live vicariously through you." Ned picked up another piece of pizza, obviously pleased with himself.

"So aliens...is this a take over the world and kill everyone thing?" MJ took a sip of her coke and waited for Peter to spill what he knew about the aliens.

Peter shook his head. "I don't think so. There were only five of them and they seemed way more interested in killing each other than destroying anything." He thought about what he knew about them. He had tried to convince Mr. Stark to let him show Ned and MJ the video but he had been flatly turned down. Then Mr. Stark had deleted the footage from Karen's archives so Peter wouldn't have access to it. "Plus, my spidey sense didn't go off until after I tried to web them up."

"So why are they here?" Ned seemed relieved that impending doom wasn't on the horizon and was now more interested in the idea of aliens.

"That has been the topic of discussion since Thursday night. Rhodey did find out from Fury that he was more concerned about the Kree - the ones that didn't shape shift - than he was the other ones." Peter thought about the two Kree. They were stronger and had better weapons so he thought it probably made sense that they were the bigger threat. Either way he didn't like aliens running around Queens.

The front door opened and May walked in. "Hi honey! How's the homework coming?"

The trio shifted their eyes to the books scattered on the floor and table. "Great, were almost done." Peter glanced over at the other two. He had told them under no circumstance was May to find out about the aliens. While the three of them had lived through the attack on New York, they were too young to really remember much. May on the other hand remembered it clearly and was terrified of the idea of aliens.

May walked over to the sofa and gave Peter a kiss on the head and greeted the other two before looking back down at Peter. "Are you doing your Spider-Man thing tonight?"

"Yeah, I thought I'd walk everyone home and then swing back."

"Ok, home by Midnight." She grabbed a piece of pizza and headed towards her room. "Yell if you need me!"

* * *

From Peter's apartment, Ned's apartment was closest so it only made sense to stop at Ned's first. Plus it gave Peter time to walk with just MJ. It wasn't that Ned didn't know something was going on. They just didn't really talk about it. Which was nice. Peter was pretty sure it was a conscious effort by all three of them to avoid any kind of awkwardness. It wasn't like MJ and Peter we're into public displays of affection anyway. They pretty much limited it to the occasional hand holding or sitting together when other people were around. That didn't mean that they didn't enjoy an occasional make out session when they were by themselves but at the end of the day they just really liked hanging out with each other. And, by not moving too quickly, Peter was able to avoid all of the anxiety surrounding Mr. Stark's completely unnecessary comment about "Spider Babies".

They had figured out early on in the relationship that the roof of MJ's apartment complex was a great place for Spider-Man to swing off of. It was high enough and there was a spot that was hidden from view so no one would see Spider-Man leaving the building repeatedly, or changing for that matter.

After they dropped Ned off, they continued towards MJ's apartment, fingers interlaced.

"So, do you want to tell me the real reason you spent two nights at the compound?"

Peter had expected the question. MJ was more than observant. She was like a bloodhound. She always knew when he was only giving them part of the story. "I haven't been sleeping great. The first night was really bad."

"But it wasn't the aliens?" She was pretty sure the aliens hadn't freaked him out.

"No." Peter wasn't even sure how to explain what the issue was. "The empty Iron Man suit got destroyed."

"And your brain saw it as Mr. Stark. Makes sense that would freak you out." MJ tightened her fingers around his.

"Glad it makes sense to you because it doesn't make sense to me."

MJ stopped pulled Peter so he was looking at her. "That's because you're an idiot and you're refusing to let any of this to the surface. You've lost every adult male figure in your life. Seeing the Iron Man suit destroyed wouldn't have been easy."

Peter bit his bottom lip and ducked his head. It was times like this that he actually liked the fact the MJ was taller than he was.

MJ sighed and pulled Peter as she started walking again. "The one thing I definitely know is that you are not going to turn into a zombie like you did after Homecoming."

"Mr. Stark said to call him, even if it's 2am." Peter let himself be pulled down the sidewalk by MJ.

"And you should. The man is a walking billboard for PTSD. If anyone can help you deal with nightmares it's him. And, you do realize that if you don't, he'll probably just wire your bedroom so he'll get an alert." MJ smiled to herself as she felt Peter almost stop walking at that comment. If Stark hadn't already thought of that she'd make sure he did. She felt pretty sure Karen would relay a message for her.

"Crap. I can't call him at 2am. The man needs sleep. But you're right. He'd totally wire my bedroom." Peter picked up his pace when he felt MJ pull on his arm.

"I have an idea to try." They had reached MJ's apartment complex. She put in the door code and Peter followed her through the lobby and into the elevator.

"You're going to have to figure out how to swing back with it. Are you actually patrolling or are you just going home?" MJ slid her key into the door.

"Swing back with what?" Peter automatically lowered his voice, knowing that MJ's parents were home as they walked into the apartment.

"Hang on, let me grab it." MJ left Peter standing in the living room. She reappeared a few seconds later with teddy bear. A well worn, obviously much loved bear. "Come on, I'll walk you out."

Bear tucked under one arm MJ grabbed Peter's hand and pulled him out the door and toward the stairwell. "I've had Mr. Bear since I was little. He's helped me though more than a couple bad nights."

Peter followed MJ up the stairs. "MJ, I'm not taking your bear."

"Yes, you are." MJ pushes open the door to the roof and turned around and shoved Mr. Bear in Peter's face.

"He smells like your shampoo." Peter took a deep breath. He liked the way MJ smelled. Every time it brought a smile to his face.

"Exactly. I was reading this article about how our sense of smell interacts with our brain. Our brains associate certain smells with different feelings which in turn trigger different responses in our brains. With your sense of smell post spider my guess is yours works even better than most peoples. Of course this entire hypothesis is predicated on the idea that I don't give you nightmares." The last part was said with a definite smirk.

Peter thought MJ looked really proud of herself but she wasn't wrong. He could smell her shampoo from a pretty good distance away and it always brought a feeling of calmness. It was the same way he always felt safe in the lab. It had a certain smell. He had figured out that it wasn't necessarily the lab but Mr. Stark, after the lab had to be scrubbed down after one of their projects literally melted down. He looked back down at the bear and contemplated how he was getting back with him. "I'll agree to take him on a trial basis. He has to ride in the backpack though."

MJ laughed. Grabbing his backpack she pulled his Spider-Man suit out and stuffed the bear in. Handing his suit to him, she turned around while he changed. "He's good company and he should be fine in the backpack. Just don't get him shot or stabbed." She heard Peter tap the spider emblem and turned around in time to see the suit shrink around him.

MJ leaned over and kissed him. "Text me when you get home."

Peter leaned over and kissed MJ again. "You don't want to stay up here a little while do you?" Peter smiled at the blush that spread across MJ's cheeks. He kissed her again and laughed when she playfully pushed him away.

"If you take the long way home, you'll have just enough time to make it home before curfew. Remember to text me when you get home. I'll talk to you tomorrow." MJ took a step back to give him room.

Peter pulled his mask over his head. Looking back at MJ one more time he tightened his backpack. Turning back to focus he jogged toward the edge of the roof and kept off, flinging a web towards the closest building.

* * *

After swinging home the long way, plus scaring off some would be muggers, Peter still made it home well before his midnight curfew. He was tired. He might not need as much sleep as a normal person but he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the last two nights. At this point he was just apprehensive about sleeping. The last thing he wanted to do was wake up Aunt May. And he didn't want to call Mr. Stark. He retrieved Mr Bear from his backpack. It definitely smelled like MJ. "Mr. Bear, you're supposed to keep me from having nightmares. Got it?" Mr. Bear did not respond so Peter took it to mean that he was up to the challenge. Peter also figured there was a 75% chance that either he'd wake May up or he'd end up caving and calling Mr. Stark. Stupid nightmares. He stretched out and stared at the ceiling, Mr. Bear resting on his chest. Yeah, this night was going to suck.

* * *

_Aliens...web them up...repulsor whirl...safe...weapons fire...destruction...wrong suit kid...rubble...smoke...not alone...roses...calm...roses?_ Roses. Peter jerked awake. He looked over at Mr. Bear who was jammed against the crook of his neck. "Good job, Mr. Bear", Peter mumbled and rolled over, unceremoniously on top of the stuffed animal.

When Peter woke up to the sun streaming through his window he rolled off of the lump that was Mr. Bear. He mumbled an apology to the bear and swung his feet off the bed. He had lost track of the number of times he had jerked awake last night. But on the plus side, he hadn't woken up screaming. And, he had gotten a couple hours of actual sleep. MJ was never going to let him forget that she was right.

* * *

"You sure you're ok kid?" Tony studied Peter. It was their normal Wednesday lab day. He had expected at least one middle of the night call but the kid had been radio silent, at least at night.

Peter shrugged. "I've had a couple nightmares but nothing that's been unmanageable." He wasn't sure he wanted to tell Iron Man exactly how he had managed to avoid waking up screaming.

Tony narrowed his eyes and stared at Peter. The kid was terrible at lying. He just didn't have it in him. Tony truly had no idea how he managed to keep Spider-Man under wraps. But, Karen hadn't reported a drop in his response time, which is what usually happened when he wasn't sleeping.

Peter knew Mr. Stark was staring at him. It always made him antsy. Not nervous but rather fidgety and just like he couldn't lie to the man. Before he knew what he was doing, words started spilling out of his mouth. "MJ read this article about how smells translate in your brain and produce various emotional responses. She always makes me calm just like the smell of the you and lab make me feel safe. She gave me an old bear of hers that smells like her, or at least the smell I associate her that I think is probably just the shampoo that she uses but still, it makes me calm. I didn't think it would work but it did...I mean it doesn't stop the nightmares but it pulls me out of them enough so I don't wake up screaming with my heart pounding. So I guess now I'm just stuck sleeping with a teddy bear." Peter sucked in a breath and looked at Mr. Stark to gauge his reaction.

One of the things Tony absolutely loved about Peter was how sometimes words just poured out of his mouth. It was in those times that he was assured that Peter trusted him, because while Peter talked a lot to just about anyone, this was different. It was everything he kept pushed down and didn't allow most people to see. He counted himself lucky that he was included in what he thought was an incredibly small number of people. He couldn't stop the grin that appeared on his face.

"Please don't make fun of me." Peter pleaded when he saw the grin on Mr. Stark's face.

"I'm not smiling about the teddy bear. At least not how you think. It's a great solution. It's a smart solution. Although don't tell MJ I said that. I'll never live it down." Tony cocked his head and looked at Peter. "Seriously, you're ok?"

Peter shrugged again. "Yeah. I mean they're still there but they're getting better. I'm not having nearly as many."

Tony nodded. "Ok. You'll tell me if they start getting bad again." Tony watched Peter hesitate but eventually he nodded in agreement.

"Good. Because Pepper is making me go to Hong Kong next week for the annual board meeting. I didn't want to leave if you were still having issues." Tony watched a shocked look roll across Peter's face.

"You can't blow off a board meeting just because your intern had a couple bad dreams."

"Oh, I can. And if I think I need to, I will. But, on the plus side there's a 12 hour time distance so if you need someone to talk to at 2am it'll only be 2pm there and you'll probably be doing me a favor."


	15. Chapter 15 - Hong Kong

Tony stared out the window at the Hong Kong skyline. It wasn't quite as comforting as the New York skyline had been when he owned Avengers Tower but it was close. It was familiar. When SI's international presence became larger and Pepper started spending more time abroad he had insisted on buying something. He could control security that way.

The annual board meeting gave him an excuse to be in Hong Kong, the corresponding event going on downstairs gave him the cover he needed. He was always fashionably late and the coming and going of so many people made this easier.

He looked down at his phone, checking the time but also looking at the text exchange from earlier.

_"Hey Mr. Stark! How's Hong Kong?"_

_"It's a board meeting. I'm currently looking at a presentation that looks like it was put together by a kindergartner. It's 1pm here which means it's 1am there. Are you patrolling? I thought your curfew was midnight? Am I going to have to bail you out of hot water with May when I get home?"_

_"Umm...yes to patrolling. No to May, she's working. I'm headed home. It's been quiet."_

_"You haven't been out late like this in a while. Everything ok?"_

_"Sure. I mean, I was just restless tonight and literally climbing the walls in the apartment. Thought I could at least maybe help someone."_

_"But you're ok, right?"_

_"I'm fine. Your fine. Not my fine."_

_"Ok kid. Get home and get some sleep. Don't you have a biomechanics lab tomorrow?"_

_"Yes. We're going to a driving range. Physics in motion. Should be interesting. I don't think many of us are going to be any good at golf."_

_"Have fun. I actually like golf. It's one of those business things. Maybe if you don't hate it I'll take you to play sometime."_

_"We'll see. I've never played. I may be horrible."_

He heard the elevator doors slide open behind him. Straightening an imaginary crease on the sleeve of his tuxedo as a way to steel himself, he turned around. Steve Rogers stepped off the elevator. Almost unrecognizable he had a baseball cap pulled low, stubble covering the bottom half of his face, jeans, a t-shirt, and a nondescript jacket. It would have been an amusing sight a year ago but now it just showed how polar opposite they were. Himself dressed to the nines and Steve looking like just some guy you might pass on the street, never thinking twice about him.

Neither one of them said anything. Tony fought back the urge to summon a suit and fire a repulsor into Steve's chest. He thought he had worked through all of this but it was clearly apparent in the moment that he hadn't. Tamping it back down, he put his facade back up. There was a reason he had reached out. He looked at his phone one last time before sliding it into his pocket. "Steve. Any trouble getting up to the penthouse?"

Steve shook his head. "FRIDAY cleared the way." He took a hesitant step forward but decided to stop at one, unsure of where they stood.

"Good". Tony crossed over to the bar and poured a drink. Picking it up but not bringing it to his lips he looked at Steve. "I'm amending the accords."

"I'm pretty sure you didn't reach out just to tell me that."

Tony nodded. "If we can get the accords amended and the charges removed I needed to see where that leaves us. You said call if I needed you." Tony paused and finally took a sip of the drink in his hand. "I'm just worried if I wait until then it'll be too late."

Steve tentatively took another step forward. "We heard about the run in you had in New York. I think the names I heard were Skrulls and Kree?"

Tony nodded. He wasn't surprised Steve knew. Natasha would still be plugged in to the going ons with S.H.I.E.L.D. "They were interesting." Tony bit back the rest of the comment that was about to come spilling out that Steve would like the Skrulls since he could appreciate that they were two faced. Pepper would be proud of his restraint.

"You think there's something bigger planned?" Steve was genuinely concerned. It was bad enough facing off against home grown threats. The ones from outer space were on an entirely different level. Tony may not think it true but they all still had nightmares about New York.

"Not necessarily. But it was just an in your face reminder that we aren't alone and we are spectacularly out gunned." Tony set his unfinished drink down.

"Did anyone get hurt?" The intel Natasha had gotten was good but limited.

"No. We handled it."

"We?" Steve asked. He wasn't sure who was involved. He knew Fury had shown up at some point.

"It's handled."

Steve knew that was all the information he was going to get from Tony about the incident. It was clear Tony didn't trust him. If they were going to move past this he was going to have to rebuild some of that trust. Which meant not pushing and apparently not talking about the alien incident. "Tony, I know we have some issues to work through but I think you're right. If we can't work to get a team back together - when the next thing comes we won't be able to handle it. So, I'm open to suggestions."

Tony studied Steve. Part of him saw his friend. The other part of him saw the shield his father had made being driven into his chest. He missed the team. Hell, he missed Steve. And Peter needed more than Iron Man and War Machine backing him up. If it had just been him, he would have wallowed in his own misery and never talked to Steve Rogers again. But it wasn't just him. It was a 15 year old kid that couldn't hit even an alien with his fist because he was afraid of what he might do. Tony couldn't teach him control because he didn't know what it felt like. "We make it work. Step one is getting the Accords fixed. You were right not to sign them. Some of the provisions are a problem."

Steve nodded. "Do you have a timeline?"

"Ross is being, well, Ross. But there's enough people who are listening and see that they have to be changed. T'Challa's backing has been instrumental but there's a long way to go." Tony changed subjects. "Everyone safe?"

"Yes. Sam is in Wakanda. Wanda moves around but Vision sticks pretty close, but you probably knew that." Tony nodded before Steve continued, "You know Clint and Scott are still under house arrest." Steve paused, "Nat headed to New York after she heard about the incident. If you need help, you know she won't hesitate."

Romanoff being in New York took Tony by surprise. He didn't think she'd risk stepping foot back in the US until the charges were dropped. Ross had insisted and gone over everyone's heads when he charged her. He wasn't sure what to do with that information yet. There was one other he wanted to know about. "And the last one?"

Steve sucked in a breath. "He's In Wakanda. They managed to deprogram him and he's working through the rest of it."

Tony nodded. He didn't know what do to what that information either. "I'll send you revisions as we do them. It needs to be something everyone can live with."

Steve nodded. "Tony...for what it's worth I'm sorry things happened the way they did." He stopped himself from repeating the same message he had sent him when he sent him the phone.

"It's worth a great deal. I'll need a couple hundred hours of therapy to get there but I do know that we need to make this work."


	16. Chapter 16 - Golf

Peter pulled his earbuds out of his ears as he exited the elevator outside of the labs. Mr. Stark had gotten back from Hong Kong yesterday and had asked him if he wanted to spend Saturday in the lab as a makeup for missing Wednesday. Wednesday just felt weird. He always spent Wednesdays with Mr. Stark. Maybe that's why he had gone patrolling until late and ended up texting the man at 1 am. He thought he might hear more about staying out late but that didn't take away from the from the good mood he was in. He had a really good week in spite of missing Wednesday lab time. The doors slid open and Mr. Stark waved him over, coffee mug in hand.

"I had a thought about the nanotech when I was in Hong Kong." Pulling up the holographic display he flicked a button and the Iron Man armor sprouted out from the pseudo arc reactor. Once fully formed, Tony tapped the suit. Where before the nanobots has broken apart and then reformed, this time they stayed together.

"You got it to maintain integrity! That's awesome." Peter beamed at the display. He tapped the suit himself. "What's the max impact?"

Tony adjusting the setting and tapped it again. The integrity breached but the time it took to reform was significantly better than it was before. "High enough that I feel good about testing your web-shooters." He pushed the hologram to the side and started the manufacturing of the nanobots before turning to Peter and taking a sip of coffee. "How was golf?"

Peter's face lit up. "You're not going to believe it...". He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and pulled up the video MJ had taken. Flipping it around he pushed play and showed it to Mr. Stark.

Tony took the phone and watched the video of Pete hitting shot after shot and drives that landed exactly where they were supposed to. He looked up at Peter who had a wide grin on his face. "You're really good." He continued watching the video and watched Peter's form. He understood why the kid was so good. Peter understood the physics behind a golf swing, and because of the spider bite, he had the agility to make his body perform the motion seamlessly. His eyesight certainly helped as well. "Really good. How did you like it?"

"It was awesome! The golf course was quiet, well except for when Flash and his friends started cutting up instead of actually trying. And it was something I wasn't bad at."

Tony eyed Peter. The kid couldn't bring himself to say he was good at something. Tony still found that astonishing. "FRIDAY, get a tee time today or tomorrow morning for either Shinnecock or Baltusrol." This was the perfect, non-life threatening way to work on the kids' confidence. He had two long flights to think about the issue with Peter not seeing himself as a hero and he thought that some of it might stem from a lack of confidence in who he was. Not as Spider-Man but as Peter who happened to now be enhanced. He didn't want to turn him into a cloned ego maniac like himself but the kid could stand to build his confidence up a little. Tony watched Pete's eyes light up as he simultaneously tried to tell to tell him that he didn't have to take him golfing. Tony waived him off. "You'd be doing me a favor, kid. I like golf and I very rarely get to go with someone I like. Usually it's trying to broker a business deal. It'll be enjoyable just to play without having to strategize business at the same time."

* * *

Tony strapped on Peter's watch. The band automatically adjusted to his larger wrist.

"I still don't understand why I can't test my own web shooter." Peter stood in front of Tony with his arms crossed.

"Because I'm not letting you do what equates to human testing. That's how we got a Hulk." Tony tapped the holographic screen and looked at the diagnostic report. Checking the numbers a final time he looked at Peter. "Behind the blast wall."

Peter let out a little growl and moved behind the glass partition. Neither one of them thought that there was any kind of outward danger and Peter thought this particular safety measure was ridiculous. He watched Mr. Stark on the other side of the glass.

Tony flexed his wrist and tapped the side of the watch. They had to make the nanobot trigger so that Peter couldn't accidentally trigger them. The mental component was a little tricky but they had finally worked it out. He watched the web shooter form on the underneath part of his wrist.

Peter poked his head out from behind the glass. "You didn't blow up and you didn't turn into a zombie. Can I come out and test it myself?"

Tony grinned and shot a web at Peter, narrowly missing him when he ducked. He walked over to the diagnostic read outs and studied the results. Satisfied that there was no effect on him, he unstrapped the watch and handed it to Peter. The web shooter was forming almost before Peter had finished fastening the band.

"This is so cool." He flexed his wrist and studied the web shooter. He could control its configuration which was really amazing. It wasn't the souped-up version of his web-shooters that he had in his suit but since this was merely for emergencies when he wasn't in his suit it was perfect. He looked over and saw Mr. Stark working on the metal band for his other wrist. By the end of the day he would have two fully functional nanobot web-shooters. Which meant the Iron Man armor was next. This was seriously turning out to be a great week.

* * *

Peter rolled out of bed rubbing his eyes. Mr. Stark had given him instructions last night on what he had to wear and what time they had to leave...to play golf. Part of him was actually pretty excited about playing golf with Mr. Stark. They had only gone to the driving range and the putting greens during the biomechanics lab so he was looking forward to playing actual golf. The other part of him was groaning at the fact that it was 6 am Sunday morning and he was about to put on clothes that were nicer than most of what he owned. He still found it weird that he had gradually obtained an entirely different wardrobe in his closet at the compound. It started as extra shirts and jeans in case they got messy in the lab, extra pajamas in case he ended up spending the night on a non-spend the night night. One day as he was changing his shirt after a particularly messy couple hours in the lab he realized that he had just as many clothes at the compound as he did at the apartment. He had given up on trying to get Mr. Stark not to do it. He wasn't even sure if it was him or Ms. Potts that bought him clothes. He thought it might be the latter. He really couldn't imagine Mr. Stark buying him clothes.

Once dressed he walked out to the kitchen. Mr. Stark was filling up a travel mug of coffee. He tossed Peter a bottle of orange juice which Peter promptly finished. Grabbing a donut out of a box sitting on the bar, Peter ate his sugary breakfast in complete silence. He knew Mr. Stark needed at least a couple sips of coffee before he actually engaged in conversation. Peter heard a satisfied sigh as he was putting the last bite in his mouth.

"Ready kid?" Tony grabbed his coffee, glasses and keys.

"Yes, sir. Happy's not driving?" Peter asked, following Mr. Stark to the elevator.

"Happy hates golf. Hates the club house. Hates everything remotely related to golf. Plus, I thought we'd take the convertible. Which Happy also hates." Peter followed Tony off the elevator into the parking garage. Popping the trunk, Tony checked to make sure that Happy did in fact put the golf clubs in last night.

Peter looked over Mr. Stark's shoulder seeing two sets of golf clubs. One set in a not so subtle navy and red bag. "When did you get me golf clubs?"

Shutting the trunk Tony opened the driver side door and slid behind the wheel. "Last night."

Peter chuckled as he got into the passenger seat. Of course he did.

* * *

Peter's jaw dropped as they pulled into the golf course. It was nothing like the course they went to for class. It was much, much, nicer. Peter trailed Mr. Stark with his golf clubs slung over his shoulder. In short order he was sitting next to Mr. Stark on their way to the first tee. "Can I drive the golf cart?"

"I've seen you drive kid. There's no way I'm letting you drive here."

"It wasn't that bad." Peter really didn't remember much of totaling Flash's dad's car. He had other things to worry about at the time. He vaguely thought he remembered that the car might of ended up on its side and cringed little bit.

"Not that bad? You weren't even going that fast. And I'm not sure using webs to make a turn was really the best idea." Tony watched Peter cringe even more at the description. "This summer you can get out on the completely open and unoccupied roads around the compound. No web shooters. Just learn how to drive when you're not chasing a bad guy."

"That seems a little less stressful. I had to have Ned look up how to turn on the headlights." Mr. Stark had arrived at the first tee. Peter got out of the golf cart and retrieved his driver but stood back to watch Mr. Stark tee off. The drive looked good to Peter's uneducated eye. When Mr. Stark stepped to the side, Peter stepped up to the tee. A moment later, the golf ball took off and landed inches from the green.

Tony shook his head. The kid was going to destroy him at golf. Getting back in the golf cart they road out to where Tony's ball landed. "I know I said I wasn't going to say anything but how do you manage controlling a golf swing but not a punch."

"I didn't at first. I'm pretty sure the first one ended up in New Jersey." Peter bit his bottom lip and thought about it. "It's just easier when it's something else, like when I catch someone else's punch and use its momentum as it's own weapon. Hitting something with my fist just doesn't feel right."

Tony thought about Peter's response. It answered the question as to why biofeedback had been such an utter failure. He was beginning to understand that it didn't have as much to do about control of his strength. Like Peter's view of himself it was all tied up in his head. Tony hit his ball and moved it at least within sight of Peter's. He could work with this.

* * *

Peter thoroughly enjoyed playing golf. It was quiet and it was just him and Mr. Stark talking about everything from SI work to the nanotech to what was going on at school. It was around hole 16 that he thought about what MJ and Ned had said about the accords. "Mr. Stark, what's going on with the accords?"

Tony looked over at Peter as the kid putted his ball into the hole. He didn't know what Peter knew about the accords. It was his own fault. The one time the kid had asked him about it he had all but blown up at him. The timing was just bad. It was in the middle of Ross's push for registration regardless of age. When Ross brought it up in session, Tony had almost lost it right then and there. Ross was a snake. Ross wanted super soldiers. Peter's enhancements were the closest anyone had come since the original serum to a stable outcome. Tony was convinced it was more of a fluke than a conceived creation but the last thing he wanted was anyone getting their hands on the kid. That thought gave him nightmares. "They're being amended. If they get amended to everyone's satisfaction, then they'll work on pardons for everyone."

Peter dropped his putter back into his bag. "MJ and Ned said something about Secretary Ross wanting everyone registered, regardless of age."

Tony putted his ball into the hole. "That option is no longer on the table."

"But it was?"

"It was mentioned, but it was shut down the same day." Tony looked at Peter. He knew the kid understood what registration meant. "Pete, if anything were to happen to expose you, you need to know that there are contingency plans in place to keep you, May, Ned, and MJ safe." Tony saw the look of shock on Peter's face. "Kid, as long as it's in my power, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Understand?" Tony dropped his putter into his bag and waited for Peter to get into the golf cart before sliding behind the wheel and heading to the next tee.

"It just took me by surprise when MJ and Ned said something about it. It's something I should have been paying attention to and I can't believe I didn't know about it." Peter stretched his legs out in front of him and thought through what Mr. Stark had said. Contingency plans. The man always had contingency plans and now they include him. If the accords got amended what would that mean. He had mentioned pardons. Would that mean that the Avengers would be back? Would he be back in Queens patrolling on his own while they were off fighting the latest Big Bad? Would he end up back on an airport tarmac in another country stealing Captain America's shield? Would Captain America and Mr. Stark end up in another fight? He still wasn't positive about what happened he just knew Mr. Stark had ended up with more than a couple bruises that weren't there after the airport battle.

"I agree you should have been more in the loop. I purposely didn't talk to you about the accords because I didn't want you to worry about it unless you had to." Tony eased the golf cart to a stop but didn't get out at the tee. He knew Peter well enough by now that he recognized when the kids wheels were turning. Might as well get it all out in the open. "So if the accords get amended and the rest of the Avengers get pardoned, how would you feel about them being at the compound? It would be a little busier but you'd have more people to train with. Natasha and Steve could probably both teach you quite bit. Probably more than me when it comes to evasion and whatever your version of hand to hand combat is." Tony smiled at the grin the comment elicited from Peter, but he could still see that his wheels were turning.

"Think we can figure out how to avoid fighting it out at an airport in another country this time?" Peter got out of the golf cart and retried his driver.

Tony slid out and watched the kid tee off. "That's the plan."


	17. Chapter 17 - Dark Alleys

Peter landed on the roof of a warehouse. The part of Queens he was in was rapidly becoming a drug haven despite the police upping patrols. It was a little further out than he normally roamed but there had been a couple overdoses in the last couple weeks and then a kid at school had been busted with drugs...at school. He was determined to do something about it. He knew he couldn't single-handedly put an end to all of the drug deals but he could make a dent in it.

He walked to the edge of the roof and looked down at a lone individual walking into the alley. He didn't understand the allure of drugs. He didn't understand what could possibly drive a seemingly normal person into a seedy part of town and meet with an even seedier person to give them money for something that could kill them.

He had spent the last couple weeks "encouraging" people in search of drugs to leave the area. Most of them ran when he landed in front of them. Not all of them. He had walked with two of them to a drug rehabilitation clinic located a couple blocks away. It was those two that gave him confirmation that he was having an impact. The ones that would run away, most of the time he saw them again. Sometimes that same night, sometimes a couple days later.

He jumped off the roof and landed a couple feet in front of his newest quarry. "Hey! You know it's not safe down here."

As was typical more often than not, the man took off running in the opposite direction. Peter watched the man's back disappear around the corner. He heard a door open towards the end of the alley to his left. The alley where he figured this particular drug deal would have taken place.

"Spider-Man, you're bad for business." Three thugs, because that was the only description for them, stepped out of the shadows of the alley.

"And you're bad for Queens." Peter quickly took in as much as he could about the three. All of them were carrying weapons. Handguns in waistbands, some kind of stick, maybe a pipe, in their hands. Flinging two webs, he hit two of the men, covering their hands with webs. He immediately followed with taser webs stunning them. Unfortunately that meant that the one in the middle was left free to attack. Peter felt it coming but couldn't do much about it since he was wrapped up with the other two. He felt the pipe slam into his shoulder. "That's going to leave a bruise". Using the momentum of the hit to his advantage he tucked into a roll to move away from his attacker. The taser web he fired just glanced off his attacker's arm delivering what was probably no more than a sting. He flipped up and continued battling his foe, who was a little more skilled than a run of the mill thug. The next time the pipe was swung at him, he caught it and shoved it back into the face of his component. The man stumbled back, dazed. That gave Peter enough of an opening to web him up.

"Karen, call the police. Tell them they have a package to pick up." Peter looked around he empty street and made sure the three thugs were securely webbed before swinging back up to the rooftops. Landing, he turned to look back down at the empty alleyway. Something was setting his spidey sense off. But not too bad. Just enough to tell him someone was lurking in the shadows. Rubbing his arm where the pipe had landed he realized it was sore. It didn't feel broken though. But, he knew swinging home was going to hurt like hell. And he knew waiting wasn't going to make it feel any better. He shot a web to the nearest building and started making his way home. It was almost curfew anyway.

* * *

MJ handed Peter a protein bar when she saw him the next morning. He was grateful. He had grabbed a banana this morning on they way out the door and regretted it immediately. He had overslept and barely made the train. He was starving. And tired. He figured his arm was bruised worse than he thought last night. It still ached a little bit. But it hadn't been bad enough to warrant a call or a text from Mr. Stark so it couldn't have been too bad.

"Are you still on your one man crusade to end drugs in Queens?" MJ watched him shove the last bite into his mouth.

Swallowing, he shook his head. "You make it sound like I'm being irrational. You don't like the idea of drugs in our school any more than I do."

"You're right. I don't. But I also don't like the idea of people trying to kill you either. Before, you just pissed bad guys off. Those guys were looking for you last night. Did you tell Stark?" MJ crossed her arms and watched Peter. Of course he hadn't told Stark.

"It's a little below his pay grade. It's fine. I can handle them." He leaned over and whispered in her ear "I'm Spider-Man." Grinning he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading to class.

* * *

Peter resumed his normal rooftop stakeout. Since the run in a couple days ago no one had challenged his interventions. He was hoping that meant they had packed up and moved on. But, he knew that was probably wishful thinking. He couldn't be that lucky. His spidey sense had been like a low siren all night. Not screaming at him that his life was in danger. More like something was about to happen. He watched a group of people head towards the familiar alley. He looked around to see if anyone was going to exit the alley to meet them. Not seeing anyone, he leapt off the roof and landed about ten feet in front of the group. "Hey guys! I think they're closed today."

The four people headed toward the alley didn't run like most did. The one in the front lifted his face to Peter. "Hey Spider-Man, miss me?"

Peter looked at the guy that had wielded the pipe the other night. Throwing web grenades he jumped on top of a light post. "Why aren't you in jail?" He checked the status of each attacker and threw another web grenade to completely wrap up two of the guys. He focused on the remaining two until he heard the alley door opening. Looking over his shoulder he saw four more guys coming out of the building. Flinging a web towards the two in front of him he hit one, missed one. The one he missed now had a gun in his hands as did the four that had just joined the fight.

He shot webs I'm both directions, hitting about half his targets. A bullet sped past his head, the high pitch squeal reaching his ears. The bullet impacted on the wall behind him just before a volley of other shots rang out. He rolled low avoiding what he thought was all of them until he felt white hot pain tearing across his arm. He flung taser webs at the man closest to him securing him to a wall. He stood up ready to fire additional webs.

"Spider-Man, you're not getting out of this alley alive." The three thugs advanced toward Peter, more interested in taking their frustrations out on him before killing him.

"It's a good thing the Spider has friends then."

Peter watched a black clad figure deliver a blow to the neck of one of the attackers instantly dropping him to the ground. It was followed up by a well placed kick to the midsection of one of the other thugs. Peter took the opportunity to web up the remaining free attacker as well as the one that had been knocked unconscious by his new friend. He watched as the last attacker was taken down swiftly. The black clad figure stood and turned toward Peter and he found himself staring into Natasha Romanoff's eyes.


	18. Chapter 18 - Stitches

"What do you say we find somewhere a little less grimy to look at your arm?" Natasha walked determinedly towards Peter. She hadn't been planning on jumping into the fray unless she needed to. The kid handled himself ok but that many guys with guns was bound to end badly.

"What? Oh, right." He reached up and touched his arm where the bullet had grazed him. He didn't think the bullet was lodged in his arm but it sure hurt.

"Can you manage to not bleed all over my car?" Natasha stood in front of Peter and looked at the blood seeping through the fabric of his suit.

Peter aimed his web shooter at his arm and covered the wound. He heard Karen's voice softly in his ear. "Peter, Mr. Stark asked me to tell you to take Ms. Romanoff to the safe house and that he'll meet you there." Baby Monitor Protocol. Great. Peter wondered how much of the fight Mr. Stark watched.

Natasha watched Peter seal up the wound. "That's handy, think Stark can adapt one for me? It would be useful in the field."

"Maybe. Did you actually park around here?" Peter stared at the abandoned street, not seeing a vehicle.

"I'm a block over. Can you make it or do I need to get the car and pick you up." Natasha looked at Spider-Man with a practiced eye. She didn't think he had lost a lot of blood but it was hard to tell with the suit.

"I'll be fine." Peter stepped back and waited for her to lead the way. His arm hurt. He could feel it starting to heal but it didn't make it hurt less. He thought it was probably enough of an opening that he'd end up with a stitch or two to hold it together until tomorrow. Which sucked even more. He followed her to a non-descript black sports car. "Mr. Stark said to take you to the safe house. He's on his way."

Natasha pulled away from the curve. "Parker, you have a safe house?" There was a tone of disbelief in her voice.

"Mr. Stark has a safe house." Peter corrected, outwardly ignoring the fact that she knew who he was as he directed her to the building and had Karen trigger the underground parking access. Once safely in the building, Peter pulled his mask off. "Why do you know who I am? The secret identity thing is supposed to be...you know...secret."

Natasha shrugged. "I'm a spy. Finding out secret identities is kind of what I do. Don't worry, I've known since Germany and haven't outed you yet." She winked at Peter, "Us spiders need to stick together." She pulled up the freight elevator door and waited for him to join her before pulling it back down.

Riding it up to the top floor, Peter was not surprised in the least that Mr. Stark was already there.

"Ok, let's see it." Tony stood in front of Peter and waited for him to tap the spider emblem to release the suit. Tony helped Peter ease his arm out of the sleeve and he inspected the wound that started bleeding again the second the pressure from the suit and webs was released. "You need a couple stitches and Dr. Cho's IV cocktail." He pushed a sterile pad onto Peter's arm and waited for Peter to replace his hand with his own.

Peter grumbled under his breath and headed over to the scaled down MedBay. He had only had to use it once or twice but Dr. Cho had made it ridiculously easy to use. Sitting in the chair, he put his good arm down long enough to let the auto IV insert. Resuming his hold on the wound he watched Mr. Stark and Ms. Romanoff. They were talking low but not so low that he couldn't pick up what they were saying.

"What are you doing Nat?" Tony crossed his arms and studied Natasha. Steve has said she was in New York but he was surprised she had revealed herself. He figured she would have flown far under the radar.

"Looking for aliens. Fury thinks there's probably more of them." Natasha took in everything around her. A lot had changed since Germany and it all seemed to center around a certain spider.

"How'd you end up mixed up in Peter's crusade against drug dealers in Queens." Out of all of them, Tony probably trusted Natasha the most. He just wasn't expecting to be faced with any of them back in the mix so soon.

"Right place at the right time." Natasha paused and looked at Tony. "I'm not a threat to him." She was offering him a reassurance that he obviously needed.

Tony dismissed the comment and walked towards Peter. "Ready for stitches?"

"No." Peter knew the response wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"Then don't get shot. Look at it this way kid, at least you're not stitching yourself up." Tony grabbed a sterilized kit and opened it on the table next to Peter.

Natasha reached in front of Tony and picked up the curved needle. "Why don't I stitch him up. If I remember correctly, you tend to pull more than you should." She slid in front of Tony and sat on the stool next to Peter. She smiled at Peter as she pulled the sterile bandage back. She glanced up at Tony. "I'm assuming lidocaine does no good?"

Peter answered, "It makes my skin crawl and really doesn't help. We haven't found a replacement. Just do it and get it over with." Peter leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He felt the needle but Natasha was right she had a much lighter touch than Tony did. Three quick stitches later he heard an "all done". Looking down at his arm he watched Natasha wrap a bandage around and secure it. "Thanks." He still had at least another 20 minutes that he had to be hooked up to the IV. "So have you found the aliens?"

Natasha filed away 'enhanced hearing' and looked between Peter and Tony. "No. Have you?"

Peter shook his head. "But the data we got only gives us about a 43% success rate on scanning. Even their weapons didn't register until they charged."

"What did you find out from Fury?" Tony pulled another stool over and sat next to Peter.

Natasha turned her attention to Tony. "He's known about both species since the mid '90's." She paused and waited for the shock to wear off. "I know. We thought the Attack on New York was the first actual incursion but apparently there was some kind of incident involving both species. Small scale obviously, but still...would have been nice to know earlier."

"Interesting that he kept it off book. There's nothing in the files I skimmed from the Helicarrier and there was nothing in the files you dumped during that mess with Hydra." Tony made a mental note to check the files specifically during the 90's to see what he could find that might not have been scrubbed.

"Yeah, there's more to the 90's incident than he's letting on. I did find out a little bit about both species. The shapeshifters are a species being eradicated by the other group, the Kree."

Peter frowned at the word 'eradicated'. "So the shapeshifters, the Skrulls? They're the good guys?" It lined up with what he saw. The Kree were definitely chasing the Skrulls.

Natasha shrugged, "I think they're kind of like humans in that there are some good Skrulls and some bad Skrulls. The threat assessment on the Skrulls indicated that they're not above getting rid of a population just so they can move in."

"Ok, so we treat all of them as hostiles." Tony watched Peter's face as he processed what Natasha had said about the aliens. "Kiddo, when the IV is done, change and I'll borrow Natasha's car and take you home." He could tell Peter was almost to the point of crashing. It was something he had picked up on the first couple times he had gotten minor injuries. The adrenaline from a battle kept him hyper alert but when the adrenaline wore off and his body started triaging wounds, he crashed fast.

* * *

Peter slid back into the passenger seat of Natasha's car and relaxed into the seat. At this point he really just wanted to crawl into bed.

Tony glanced over at Peter as they exited the underground parking. "You know you're done intimidating drug dealers, right."

"I was making progress."

"They tried to kill you. You're done." Tony wondered how much push back he was going to get.

"Fine. I will no longer stake out the alley." Peter's tone was short. He knew he was taking it out on Mr. Stark unfairly but part of him felt like he was being treated like a kid.

Tony inwardly sighed. He was becoming familiar with the tone. Tired, hurt teenager equaled cranky, testy, irrational teenager. "Go back to tracking down muggers and stopping bank robberies. You did a lot of good combating drugs in the neighborhood. You caused them enough of a headache that they'll think twice about continuing. But you have to know when to change tactics. You can't go back to the alley."

"I got it. I won't go back to the alley." Peter took a deep breath and looked over at Mr. Stark. "Sorry. I'm tired."

"I know. Look, I'll take your suit with me and do the repairs on it so you can have it back Wednesday. Ok?"

Peter nodded and stared out the window. He wasn't sure why he was in such a bad mood. "Do you think Ms. Romanoff is going to stay in town?"

"Probably. We're close to having the accords in a final form. Once they're amended the pardons will be automatic." Tony glances at Peter again to try to gauge how he was taking the conversation. "It'll be good to have someone besides me to call for help."

Peter shrugged. "I like having you as backup."

Tony smiled. "Good. Because you're not getting rid of me that easy. But, it makes me feel better knowing Nat is in the same city." Tony pulled to a stop outside Peter's apartment building. "I'll call you tomorrow after school to check on your arm but if you need me sooner, call me. Got it?"

Peter nodded and got out of the car. "Thanks Mr. Stark."

Tony watched Peter walk up the stairs of the building and open the door. He wondered how long the kid was going to call him Mr Stark.

* * *

Tony walked back into the main area of the safe house to see Natasha sitting in a chair looking at a tablet. "Are you planning on sticking around?"

"I thought I would. I hear you're close to getting the accords wrapped up. Don't want to have to travel too far if I'm just coming back here."

Tony smiled. "Good. Will you keep an eye on him? He said he wouldn't go back to stake out the alley."

"But..."

"But that that just means he'll attack it from a different angle. He doesn't give up." Tony frowned. It was both an admirable quality as well as an incredibly frustrating one.

"I'll keep an eye on him." Natasha smiled at Tony. "You know, he's good for you."

Tony dismissed the comment. "Where are you staying?"

"Around."

"Stay here. You'll be close by and you'll have access to everything. Karen, Natasha Romanoff has full access to the facilities and is now included as an additional contact for all of Peter's protocols."

"Natasha Romanoff has been added to all sub-routines. Welcome Agent Romanoff." Karen's soft voice echoed from the ceiling.

"What happened to FRIDAY?" Natasha frowned at the ceiling.

"She's still here. FRIDAY, say hello." Tony grinned at Natasha's confusion.

"Hello Agent Romanoff. As Peter's AI, Karen has priority placement in anything related to Peter although Mr. Stark and I have override capability."

Natasha chuckled, "You gave him an AI?"

"Bedrooms are a floor down as is a small kitchen. I don't think Peter's even explored it yet. No wild parties." Tony grinned as he triggered the Iron Man suit. "I'm going back to the compound. Let me know if you need anything."


	19. Chapter 19 - The Manfredi Crime Family

Peter glanced at his text messages as he sat down at his desk in English Lit. Part of him was glad Ms. Romanoff was in town but he also realized it was another adult in his life involved in Spider-Man. Although he did get the impression her involvement was definitely going to be different than Mr. Stark's. The text message from his mentor awaiting him when he woke up was full of 'how's your arm' and 'make sure you eat because you know you need the calories to heal'. He had come to appreciate those texts and even expect them. The texts from Ms. Romanoff were also checking up on his arm but offered an update on his drug dealers. She had apparently returned last night to see if there was any activity which there was none. And then she ended her text with a spider emoji. He was pretty sure Mr. Stark had never used an emoji in his life. And he was left trying to figure out why she had dangled the drug dealer update. He figured Mr. Stark probably knew he wasn't going to let it go. He'd keep his word and not return to that particular alley but he definitely wasn't just going to forget about it. Which brought him to the other string of text messages. The ones from MJ. Somehow she knew he had been hurt last night. It's like she had her own spidey sense. When she found out he'd been shot, there was a mixture of worry and awe. It wasn't everyday you could have a casual conversation about getting shot like it was no big deal...which was exactly what it was - no big deal.

He saw another message pop up from MJ.

_"You're not still making web fluid in chem lab, right?"_

Peter frowned and typed out a quick _"No. Just at the compound"_

_"Good. Police are here searching. The kid they busted was making some kind of designer drug in chem lab."_

Peter had a brief moment of panic trying to remember if he had gotten all traces out. Any of the residue would have dissolved by now. _"Should be ok. It's been a couple months."_

By the time lunch rolled around, the police searching the chem lab was all anyone was talking about. Of course the story had also grown to crazy proportions. One version was that it wasn't just one kid, it was an entire drug ring being run out of the school. Another one had the Russian mob involved. Ned recounted all of the stories he had heard throughout the morning.

"It's ridiculous. I was in chemistry when it happened." MJ ate a spoonful of macaroni and cheese. "Two officers and a drug dog. It was over in five minutes."

Peter shook his head. "Who would use the school chem lab for something like that."

MJ snickered, "You would. The only difference is that you have this whole good guy complex."

Peter feigned a hurt look. He was about to launch into all the reasons why web fluid was different when Ned interrupted.

"So what's Black Widow like?"

Peter looked between MJ and Ned. "Kind of what you'd expect. Does stitches better than Mr. Stark does. Oh, and she liked the medical webs. Thought they'd be useful in the field."

"How'd they work?" MJ leaned in. They were partially her idea. She had been working on a project in Biology about medical uses of natural items and had come across an article about webs being used as bandages.

"It worked great until I released the suit, which theoretically I wouldn't do unless I was getting medical attention." Peter thought through the various changes he could make to the formula. He enjoyed messing around with it to see what he could get it to do.

"So now that Black Widow is back, are the rest of them going to come back?" Ned leaned forward making sure no one could hear their hushed voices.

"Not until the accords are amended. I think Ms. Romanoff is back because of the aliens." Peter played with his food until MJ reaches over and grabbed one of his French fries.

"Are they coming back? Even though SHIELD tried to cover it up, the fall out between them was pretty epic." MJ shoved the fry into her mouth.

"Yeah. I was there for most of it, remember?" Peter reached over to MJ's plate and grabbed her brownie. "Mr. Stark asked me about it. Said the compound would be a little more crowded but I'd have more people to train with. After the run in with the aliens, it's kind of nice to know there's someone else close by." Peter frowned as the realization hit him. "There's no way I could have taken them down myself."

MJ reached over and grabbed his hand under the table. "Back up isn't a bad thing. If you remember, when the aliens were here before, it took all of them and they destroyed half of Manhattan."

Ned nodded in agreement. "And, Mr. Stark did bring you in for backup in Germany. Stop thinking you can handle everything yourself."

Peter knew they were trying to help and they were making really logical arguments. It really was pretty cool to fight with Black Widow last night, even though that portion of the fight only lasted about 30 seconds. But he thought back to Germany. He'd grabbed Captain America's shield and the man had dropped a jet bridge on top of him. Plus the whole mysterious thing that had happened after Germany that he still didn't know anything about. All he knew was that there had been another fight. The bell rang pulling him out of his head.

* * *

Tony picked Peter up Wednesday after school to head to the compound. "Is your arm completely healed?"

Peter nodded and pulled up his sleeve to show the wound free skin. "Were you able to repair the suit?"

"Suit is done."

"Thank you! Last night was miserable not being able to go out. But, I did tweak the medical web formula." Peter pulled a notebook out of his backpack. "Ms. Romanoff asked if I thought you could adapt them for her. Doesn't she have wrist gauntlets? I think with the changes, the formula could be used outside of the web shooters. You might even be able to use them with the Iron Man suit." Peter looked over at Mr. Stark, unsure of how he would take the idea.

"Pete, that's a great idea. We can look at the schematics for her gauntlets when we get to the lab. If we can also adapt for the Iron Man armor we can add it to Rhodey's suit as well." Tony was actually surprised he hadn't thought of it earlier. The medical web formula was a stroke of genius on Peter's part although Tony was pretty sure it was borne out of necessity. Going out every night took a toll on Peter. It seemed like he got hurt constantly but if you looked at the averages he was the least injury prone out of all of them. It's just that no one else did the superhero thing every single night.

Peter grinned at Mr. Stark's response. They spent the entire drive discussing the mechanism they could use in both the Iron Man gauntlets as well as in Black Widow's gauntlets. By the time they got to the compound they had a pretty good idea what they wanted to do. Tony pulled out the last prototype of Natasha's gauntlets and they started tweaking what was there. They even made improvements to the electroshock mechanisms. The changes didn't take that long to make and they had working gauntlets by the time Peter had to leave to head back.

* * *

Tony pulled into the safe house's underground parking. If Natasha wasn't there they'd just leave the gauntlets for her and Peter could change into his suit and leave from the safe house. The freight elevator stopped at the main common area. Natasha was sitting at the table looking at a tablet.

"What's up boys?"

Tony put the case he was carrying on the table and opened it. "We brought you a present."

Natasha reached in and picked up one of the gauntlets. Slipping it on her wrist she flipped through the settings. "It's more streamlined than the other ones."

Peter reached over and pushed a button. A spray of white came out covering the palm of his hand. "Medical webs."

Natasha pulled his hand up to examine the webbing that had formed a thin layer over Peter's hand. "Peter, this is amazing."

"Thanks. MJ deserves some of the credit. It was her original idea. I just came up with the formula." Peter stepped back and started pulling webbing off his hand. "I'm going to change."

Tony and Natasha watched Peter head off to change. "Tony, he's like a mini you."

"I'm hoping he's better than me."

Natasha smirked at the pride in Tony's voice. "Alley is abandoned. I checked it again earlier tonight. Where do you think he'll look next?"

"I have no idea. He has the habit of finding trouble though. Karen will send out an SOS if he comes across something he needs help on. I changed the protocol to automatic instead of a phone call. Karen will just give you the coordinates. I'll get the same message but it takes me time to get there." Tony kept an eye on the door Peter had disappeared through.

"You got to the alien incident pretty quickly." Natasha had watched Karen and FRIDAY's feeds earlier.

"I also fried a thruster. If I had been forced to stay in the air during the fight it wouldn't have gone well." He took his eyes off the door and looked at Natasha. "Anything new on our alien friends?"

Natasha shook her head. "Being able to watch the feeds helped. I have a couple ideas on where to look. Based on what I've gotten out of Fury, the Skrulls could be in a group of anywhere between the 3 you and Peter stopped to a group of about 10. The Kree definitely travel in a bigger group. Probably 5 to 7, so the current theory is that there are definitely more here."

Tony frowned. He didn't like the idea of aliens running free in New York, especially when they didn't know why they were there. "FRIDAY is scanning where she can and Karen is scanning when Peter's out. Both of them will let us know if they find something."

Peter walked back into the common area, mask in hand. "I'm headed out. I promise I'll stay away from the alley."

Tony smirked. "Curfew is midnight. I'll drop your backpack at the apartment. Call if you need help." Tony thought he detected an eye roll as Peter pulled the mask over his head.

* * *

Peter swung off the roof of the safe house and was in the heart of Queens within a few minutes. "Got anything for me Karen?"

"911 call on 69th by your school."

"Ok, lets check it out." Peter made good time, landing on the low roof of a building near where the call had originated. "Picking up anything?" He scanned the area himself, not seeing a source.

"Negative. It may have been a false alarm. The cruiser that had been headed this way was reassigned. Sorry Peter."

"It's ok, lets look around anyway." Peter swung over to an adjoining building that provided him a look down the main street as well as some of the side streets. Scanning the area, he saw a dark colored car pull up to the fence behind the school. "Karen, amplify. And run the tag number." After a couple minutes, he heard the rear window roll down and a figure walk out of the shadows.

_"The police were here today. I think they know more than we thought."_

_"Relax, just stick to the plan. Did they get everything out before the police searched?"_

_"Yeah, Boss, I just checked. They're looking for another lab. There are a couple options they're looking into."_

_"Good. Keep me posted. We need to get back on schedule."_

The car pulled away and the figure moved back into the shadows and disappeared. "Karen, anything on the tag?"

"The vehicle is registered to Joseph Manfredi."

"Manfredi? Isn't that one of the Maggia families?"

"Yes Peter." Karen paused. "The Maggia have ties to not only organized crime in New York but there have been rumors that certain families are also involved with Hydra. As a reminder, Hydra is something that Mr. Stark considers to be an Avenger level threat and as such he needs to be involved."

"Karen, don't call Mr. Stark. All I did was listen to a conversation and run a car tag. It's almost midnight so I'm headed home anyway. If this ends up being Hydra related, I'll tell Mr. Stark, deal?" Peter distinctly thought he heard Karen sigh. But she must have agreed because she didn't mention calling Mr. Stark again.

* * *

"So not the Russian mob but the Manfredi crime family." Peter slid into a chair between MJ and Ned in the library during their free period. They usually practiced for decathlon in the library so this particular table in the library was "their" table.

"Seriously? Wait, is that better or worse?" Ned looked between MJ and Peter.

Peter shrugged. MJ shook her head. "That's worse. The Russians just try to kill you. The Manfredi's are part of the Maggia and they're into everything."

"Karen said there's a possibility that they're involved with Hydra too." Peter looked back and forth between MJ and Ned. "All I did was eavesdrop on a conversation."

"Hydra?" Ned hadn't meant for it to come out as a squeak, but Peter had just mentioned Hydra, the evilest organization in the world, causally in conversation. "Like Winter Soldier, take over SHIELD, evil Nazi guys Hydra?"

Peter nodded. MJ narrowed her eyes at him. "You are going to tell Stark, right?"

"What's to tell? If I find out it's somehow tied to Hydra, I'll tell him. Right now, it's just a conversation."

"What did they say?" Ned leaned forward and turned toward Peter so he could hear him better.

"They're looking for a new lab. Haven't found one yet. That's literally the whole conversation." Peter leaned back and looked between the two. Before ether of them could speak, his phone buzzed.

"_Kid, I've got to go to DC for a couple days. Call Nat if you need anything._"

Peter frowned, wondering what was causing the sudden departure. "_Sure thing Mr. Stark. Problems with the Accords?"_

"_The opposite. I think we'll be able to finalize everything. I'll let you know if this drags out until Monday, but I think I should be back Saturday morning."_

"_Good Luck"_

"Can't tell him anyway. He's headed to DC. Looks like the Accords are getting finalized."


	20. Chapter 20 - Stakeout

"Karen, can you compile a list of labs in the general area that would work for the Manfredi's? Same or better abilities as the one at school, low security, low traffic." Peter crouched on the same roof he had been on the night before. He really didn't think he'd be lucky enough to catch sight of his quarry again, but he didn't know where else to start. Addresses started popping up on his HUD. "Karen, that's a lot of facilities, what's the closest one to here?" Karen plotted a route and Peter was crouched on another roof top in less than 10 minutes. Looking at the large building he started scanning for entrances. He was about to switch over to thermal imaging to see if anyone was home when Karen interrupted.

"Incoming call from Agent Romanoff." Peter frowned as Ms. Romanoff's face appeared in his HUD.

"Peter, what are you doing at Hammer Industries?"

"I'm not." Peter looked back at the building, adjusting the contrast, he tilted his head and could make out some faint remnants of letters where a sign had been removed. "Huh, ok, maybe I am. It's an abandoned building and on Karen's list of possible replacements for a lab. Are you watching my suit feed?" Peter had assumed that Mr. Stark had asked her to keep an eye on him but it hadn't occurred to him that she would be watching this close.

"I didn't know that was an option." Natasha grinned at the muttered groan from Peter when he realized he had given her the option to tap into his suit feed. "Tony apparently has some places on a 'No Fly List' for you. This building is one of them."

Peter muttered under his breath. He thought he knew about all of the Protocols. Apparently not. It made him wonder what else was in the programming that he didn't know about. "Why would an abandoned building be on the list."

"Because that building has a history. I'll be there in two minutes and you can fill me in."

* * *

Natasha crouched next to Peter. "See anything?"

Peter shook his head. "No movement that I've been able to see. The building is shielded so infrared isn't giving me much."

"There's also a sub-basement." Natasha had binoculars out.

"So what's the history of this building and why is it on the 'No Fly List'? Peter looked at the parking entrance again. "There's a small heat signature on the west side parking entrance. Like maybe someone's driven there recently."

Natasha turned her attention to the area Peter had indicated. He had good instincts. He was right about the faint heat signature.

"You're probably too young to remember when the drones attacked the Stark Expo." Natasha didn't expect the stifled laugh from Peter. "What?"

Peter shook his head. "You need to ask Mr. Stark. So drones..."

"Hammer drones." Natasha looked back at the building.

"Oh. So what happened to the building? It's on Karen's list of vacant buildings in the vicinity." Peter looked back at the building, this time focusing on the street in front.

"I thought SHIELD had taken control and cleaned it out. They definitely grabbed all the tech but I guess it's possible that they left the lab equipment."

"Ms. Romanoff, look at the manhole cover."

"Ok kid, first off - do not call me Ms. Romanoff. You're making me sound like a school teacher. It's either Nat or Natasha. Second, we are not climbing through the sewers tonight. There's no impending threat. We don't even know if they're there." Natasha pulled the binoculars down and looked over at Peter. Even with the mask, he looked crestfallen. "Meet me at the safe house and we'll come up with a plan."

* * *

Natasha pulled up the door to the freight elevator and saw Peter looking at a holoscreen. It looked like he had gotten a head start on tracing the building history since the time SHIELD had scooped up the tech. "The government auctioned it off recently - complete with a functioning lab."

"Who bought it?" Natasha stepped closer to the screen.

"Sealed bid and the deed hasn't been updated yet." Peter crossed his arms in front of him. "So what's the plan?"

Natasha smirked. "First lesson. Don't move fast unless absolutely necessary. You were ready to climb into a sewer to get into the sub basement of a building just to see if some bad guys were making some kind of designer drug. In the grand scheme of things, this is not something you need to move on tonight."

"I know this is below your pay grade and probably really insignificant compared to some of the things you've faced, but..."

Natasha cut him off. "I've gone after the mob and crime families before so don't assume that I only deal in "Avenger Level" threats. If it's important to you then it's important to Tony and it's important to me. But you can't just continue to stumble into situations blindly." Natasha pauses before continuing, "Wouldn't it be nice to know who you're going up against and what kind of tech they possess? From what I've seen, you're really good at handling yourself. You'd be even better if you went in prepared for what you were facing instead of just responding to what you're given. So, second lesson, you're going to come up with the plan. Which means you need to find out who owns the building, you need to find out what kind of opposition you'll face, and see if you can confirm what they're doing. All before actually going inside."

"Ms. Romanoff..."

"What did I tell you?" Natasha crossed her arms and stared at Peter.

"Fine, Nat? How am I supposed to find all that out without going inside?" Peter looked over at the holoscreen. He could probably find out pretty easily who owned the property. And, he could probably get his hands on building plans. And, he could probably figure out how to set up surveillance on the building to see who was coming and going.

"You know you can almost see the wheels turning in your head?"

"I've been told." Peter thought through his options. "All of my extra surveillance drones are at the compound. Plus, they're really not really geared towards long term surveillance."

Natasha smiled. "I have something that will work. Where do you want to set it up?"

"Rooftop? The same one we were on? It has a view of the underground garage." Peter studied the building on the holoscreen. It was the best place for surveillance.

"Good choice. I'll go back tonight and set it up."

Peter stared at Natasha. "Really?"

"Yes. It's 11:30 and your curfew is midnight. You should have plenty of time to get home. I'll set up the cameras tonight. Karen and FRIDAY can monitor for movement. Swing by after school tomorrow and we'll see what we have." Natasha dismissed the holoscreen and looked expectantly at Peter.

"Ok." Peter stepped toward the rooftop door. Pulling his mask over his head he turned to look at Natasha again. "See you tomorrow."

Stepping out onto the roof he flicked his wrist and webbed to the closest building to start the swing home. The thought going through his head was 'what the hell just happened'? Everything Natasha had said wasn't anything new. Mr. Stark had said all those things before too. They just sounded different coming from Natasha. But, on the bright side he wasn't being told to stay away from it. The complete opposite actually, Natasha was helping.


	21. Chapter 21 - Aliens in New York

Peter landed on the roof of the safe house. He had decided to swing there instead of take the subway. He slid the door open and heard Natasha. He paused when he heard his name.

"Tony, Peter is fine. You do not need to come back."

"Nat, planning an op to take down a Maggia crime family is not what I had in mind. Especially one that may or may not have ties to Hydra."

"Tony, you said it yourself he's going to do it anyway, he needs to learn how to do it right."

"I know but..."

"Stop trying to argue against yourself. I know you don't want him hurt which is why I'm going with him, although if the Hydra angle turns out to be real we're going to need help. Are you close enough to having the accords done where I can bring Steve in?"

Peter felt more than heard Tony's pause.

"Tony, I know you're still struggling with where you and Steve stand. I wish I had gone with you to Siberia. Maybe I could have stopped the two of you from trying to kill each other. But you have to know that Steve would never hurt Peter. He knows how out of control he was and how severely impaired his judgement was."

"Nat, I'm trying."

"Just think about it. I'll reach out and gauge if he thinks he'll even be able to get here before the pardons are complete."

"Thanks. I've got to get back to the committee. I'll call Pete tonight and see how he's doing."

Peter took a deep breath as he heard Tony disconnect from the call. Pushing the door fully open he made enough noise where he knew Natasha had heard him. He felt horrible about eavesdropping on the conversation but he knew he wouldn't have found out about Siberia if he hadn't. His brain was still processing the comment 'trying to kill each other'. "Hey Nat! Did Karen get you what she found?"

"Hey! You just missed Tony. He said he'd call you tonight after he got out of the committee meeting." Natasha looked up from the tablet she had in her hands.

"Did he say if he thinks they'll get it wrapped up today?"

"I think it's too soon to tell." Natasha flipped the screen from the tablet up to the holoscreen so both of them could look at it. "Karen managed to get the owner as well as the building plans. The owner is a shell corporation that FRIDAY is in the process of tracing. Building plans give us a couple ways to get in...when we decide to go."

Peter swallowed. He figured it would be better to own up to the fact that he knew about Hydra's potential involvement now rather than later. "Karen mentioned that there was a possibility that this group is tied in with Hydra. Do you think that really is a possibility?"

Natasha studied Peter's face. He was covering something, she just couldn't tell what. "Maybe. If they are, then this just went from your one man crusade with a little bit of help to a full Avenger operation."

Peter clinched his jaw. If Hydra was involved there's no way Tony would let him help. It wasn't fair.

"Peter, just because it's an Avenger op, it doesn't mean you're excluded. You may not be in the middle of things but you'll be on the mission." Natasha thought she was starting to be able to read Peter almost as well as Tony did. It was encouraging at least.

"So what's the next step?" Peter was somewhat optimistic that maybe Natasha could convince Tony to let him stay involved.

"The next step is the glorious and oh so fulfilling activity of looking through surveillance footage." Natasha grinned and pulled up the video feed. At least FRIDAY had culled it down to times when there was actually activity. Which for about 18 hours worth of video was only about 5 minutes. Two vehicles exited out of the underground parking and one went in hours later. One of the vehicles exiting was the same one Peter had seen by the school. FRIDAY was also tasked with running down the other two vehicles. They had names they just didn't know who they were. By the time they were done with the surveillance video, Peter was almost bouncing with pent up energy. "So what's our next move?" Natasha wanted Peter to try to dictate the course of action. That way she knew he was buying into it and wouldn't be off on his own.

Peter thought through everything they knew, which wasn't much. "We still don't know for sure what they're doing and FRIDAY is still identifying the people involved." He hated what he was about to say. "We wait. We need more surveillance information to form a more complete picture and we need to give FRIDAY time to identify everyone."

Natasha smiled. He was learning. "Peter, go do your thing. But stay away from that part of town. We don't want them tipped off that we know anything about the facility." Natasha thought he'd probably behave himself. It was his idea after all.

"Yes, ma'am. What are going to do?"

"I'm going to do some research of my own and do some reading on our aliens. Tony pulled some of the files from the 90's so I thought I'd start going through them." Natasha picked up the tablet and collapsed the holoscreen. "Have fun but remember your curfew. I don't need Tony giving me grief about you staying out too late." Smirking, she watched him roll his eyes at her as he pulled the mask down.

* * *

Karen piped into his ear, "Incoming call from Mr. Stark. Would you like it on your HUD?"

"Yes. Thanks Karen!" Peter landed on a roof and sat on the parapet, swinging his legs over the side as Mr. Stark appeared on his HUD.

"Hey kid! How's your night?"

"Webbed up some guys trying to rob a gas station. It was ridiculously easy. It's like they're not even trying."

Tony laughed, "Easy is not a bad thing."

"I know. Hey, how are the Accords going?"

Tony sighed, "Looks like they're not going to get done until early next week. They're trying to make some last minute additions that were having to push back on. It's nothing T'Challa, Rhodey, and I can't handle but it's still going to keep me here all weekend. I'm sorry, I know it's a compound weekend."

"It's ok. You said it was a possibility. I think everyone will be better off when they're finalized so if it means I don't get to hang out at the compound this weekend, that's ok. Nat will have more surveillance video to review so maybe I'll go over to the safe house tomorrow and help." Peter missed hanging out with Mr. Stark but he'd rather get the Accords wrapped up so he wouldn't have to spend so much time in D.C.

"Did you just call her Nat?"

Peter immediately got defensive, "She told me to and when I called her Ms. Romanoff she corrected me and...well, she kinda doesn't give you an option when she says to do something, but not in a scary way. I mean, she told me to stay away from the old Hammer Industries building in Queens so now I'm in Manhattan."

Tony laughed. "She does have that ability. And, don't let her fool you, she has a scary way too." Tony paused, "I'm just trying to figure out why you're still calling me Mr. Stark instead of Tony."

That comment gave Peter pause. Why did he still call Mr. Stark 'Mr. Stark'? The man had tried to get him to call him Tony months ago but it just didn't seem to stick with Peter. "You've always been Mr. Stark...so it's kind of a habit now." Peter knew that wasn't a great answer but he didn't know what else to say. He had called him Tony a handful of times, but none of them good. It was usually after a nightmare or the time when the empty Iron Man suit got destroyed. A lot of thoughts started swirling around in Peter's head. Thoughts he didn't want to deal with so he did the only thing he could, he changed subjects. "So did Nat tell you about the Hydra connection."

Tony wasn't sure what the look was on Peter's face. Having a conversation while he was in the suit wasn't the best time to try to get a read on his expressions. The HUD gave him a limited view. "Yes. And it means you need to be extra careful. She also told me you're worried that I'm going to stop you from participating in the op if that's the case." He could tell Peter had stiffened a little at that comment. "It's your op which means you get to participate but you will have ground rules. Start getting comfortable with the idea of wearing the Iron Spider suit because if you're on a op involving Hydra the suit is non-optional."

"Really? I'm good with the Iron Spider suit. It's just hard to wear every night because I'm not as flexible."

Tony smiled at Peter's excitement. It was the right call, he just hated that the thought of letting Peter participate in an op involving Hydra almost made him sick. "We can work on the flexibility. I just want to make sure you're bulletproof."

"Yes, sir. Thank you!" Peter was ecstatic.

"Ok kid, go patrol and stay out of trouble. It sounds like we're not making move until I get back anyway. We have time."

"Thanks Mr. Stark!" Peter watched the call disconnect and flipped off of the parapet, flinging a web to swing down the street. He couldn't believe he was going to be allowed to participate in an op with Iron Man and Black Widow.

"Peter, swing lower."

Peter frowned. Karen never gave directions like that. Complying, he asked "Why?"

"My sensors picked up an energy reading that was similar to the alien tech belonging to the species identified as the Kree."

Peter swooped lower. "Where?" Karen lit up a spot on the HUD. Peter scrutinized the area below him. He didn't see anything suspicious. "Karen, are you still picking up anything?"

"Negative. Sorry Peter."

Peter perched on the edge of a roof and watched the street below him. It drove him crazy that there was potentially an alien down there and he couldn't pick it up. His own spider sense wasn't going off so it was more than likely just a random sighting instead of the lead up to something dangerous. That actually bothered him even more. Aliens were walking around New York and no one was the wiser.


	22. Chapter 22 - Drone Surgery

Peter rolled out of bed groaning. He hadn't slept well. It hadn't been a nightmare plagued night, it had just been a restless one. He had never thought of himself as a creature of habit but he had started picking up on the fact that if his compound schedule was off it bothered him. He should be waking up in his room at the compound. But instead, he was in his room at the apartment. May was at work because it was a compound weekend so the apartment was completely silent. Eating quickly he pondered what to do. Karen picking up the alien signature then losing it bothered him. He wanted to go back and check out the area again. But, Spider-Man hanging out in Manhattan during the day on a Saturday would be weird. He could get away with it at night but during the day it would cause too many curious eyes. He also wanted to see if Natasha had anything new on the lab. Deciding on a course of action he threw the suit into a backpack and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt he headed out for the subway.

Mr. Stark had really done a great job picking out the safe house. On top of having the perfect roof for both Spider-Man and Iron Man to come and go, there were 4 different access points to enter on foot, not to mention Peter could easily scale the side of the building and enter through a window as well. Deciding that wasn't a good option during the day and in street clothes he picked one of the normal entrances and rode the freight elevator up to the common area. Natasha was expecting him and greeted him with a cup of coffee in her hands.

"There's been a little bit of activity at the lab. Nothing overly interesting but FRIDAY did trace the shell corporation to a known Hydra entity so looks like your drug dealers are at the very least tied in with them, possibly even working directly with them."

Peter knew that meant that the operation just got a lot more complicated but he was going to hold Mr. Stark to his word that he'd let him participate. "I'm guessing that means that we're not doing anything about it for a while?"

Natasha took a sip of her coffee. "We definitely want to know more about what they're doing. Peter, stumbling across this may be one of the biggest things related to Hydra since they tried to take SHIELD. You did good, just be patient. There's much more at stake now."

Peter sighed, "I know, I'm just not good at sitting still."

Natasha laughed. That was an understatement. As she took another sip of coffee she mentally made a note to avoid letting the kid have caffeine. Although it might be interesting to watch. "So how did it go last night?"

"It was weird. I went into Manhattan. While I was there Karen thought she picked up one of the aliens but it was so brief she couldn't track it."

"Really? Where? Karen, can you play the suit feed from last night?" She put her coffee down and brought up the holoscreen. The feed pulled up showing the brief blip. Natasha watched it several times but didn't see anything that stood out. She sat back in thought.

"So what do we do about it? I can't hang out in Manhattan during the day as Spider-Man - I'd cause too many onlookers. I don't think you need to hang out at one of the most heavily patrolled areas in the world until after the pardons are done." Peter leaned against the table and waited for Natasha's input.

"What do you have that's an active sensor?"

Peter thought through the gear he had that wasn't at the compound. "Droney. Karen, how long can the Spider Drone function outside of the suit?"

"Your Spider Drone can only function for 6 hours without recharging." Peter frowned. Six hours was not enough time. "Nat, do you have your old gauntlets?"

Natasha frowned at Peter. "Yes. What are you planning?"

Peter grinned. "Upgrades. Grab your gauntlets. I think there's a tool kit in the MedBay."

Natasha returned with the gauntlets to see Peter leaned over the table unscrewing the back of what looked like a mechanical spider. "Tony made your drones spiders?"

Not taking his eyes off the back of the drone Peter nodded. "If they weren't so cool they would creep me out a little. This one's name is Droney." Finally glancing up he looked over at Natasha, "Gauntlets?"

Natasha handed them over and watched Peter examine them and then flip them over and start unscrewing a tiny screw. A small door popped open revealing one of the mini-arc reactors that powered them. "Ok, I know what you're doing. Need any help?"

Peter shook his head. "FRIDAY, can you turn on some music?"

Natasha smiled as a familiar track started playing. Stepping back she pulled out her phone and swiped open the camera. Hitting record, she recorded about 30 seconds of Peter working then texted it to Tony.

* * *

Sitting across from T'Challa, Rhodey, and a few members of the committee hashing out some of the details to the Accords at a breakfast meeting, Tony felt his phone vibrate. Pulling it out of his pocket he glanced down at text from Natasha and saw that it was a video. He heard T'Challa stand next to him and looked up to see him shake the hand of the committee members. Rising, he followed suit. "Looking forward to getting this wrapped up Monday morning."

T'Challa stepped back from the table, "Allow me to walk you out. I wish to discuss some ways that Wakanda might partner with your countries." He nodded to Tony and Rhodey and ushered the men out.

As soon as the room cleared, Tony pushed play on the video and smiled as he heard the familiar strands of 'Back In Black'. Peter was removing an arc reactor from Natasha's old gauntlets and it looked like he had his Spider Drone on the table performing surgery.

Rhodey looked over and watched the short video. "See, I swear he's just a smaller version of you."

"Natasha said that too, although she included spider and Iron Man emojis. But you're both wrong, he's better than me." Tony saved the video to his phone and stood up. "I want to finish this up so I can get home before the kid replaces me entirely." He texted Natasha back to find out why Peter was replacing the power source in the drone. He figured Peter needed to use it away from the suit longer than it would run without an arc reactor but wasn't sure why. She responded with an alien emoji and then promised to call when Peter was done.

Tony looked at Rhodey and showed him the text. "I swear she uses emojis just to throw people off balance."


	23. Chapter 23 - Babysitting Duty

Natasha sat back and watched Peter work. He had the same energy that Tony and Bruce had when they were working on a project. Her ears perked up when she realized that when the familiar strands of 'Back In Black' ended the next song was not one of Tony's normal songs. She had heard his lab-time soundtrack many times over the years and had heard Bruce complain about it as well. Tony would never let him add songs so Bruce was forced to endure hours of AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Led Zeppelin. The song playing was not any of those. "Is this Imagine Dragons?"

Peter looked up and listened to the song playing. "Yeah, it's 'Radioactive'". Looking back down at the spider drone he continued the delicate operation of replacing the battery with the arc reactor.

Natasha smiled to herself. Things with Tony had indeed changed. The kid had worked his way under Tony's facade and had firmly planted himself there. Peter would be a great addition to the team although it was going to add a new dynamic that had never been there before. She had already seen Tony's protective side come out when it came to Peter but she thought what she had seen so far had only scratched the surface. Steve's judgement had been impaired because of his need to protect Bucky. Tony's would be just as bad. They were so close to being able to get the team back together the last thing they needed was another fight.

Peter replaced the cover on the drone's belly and tightened the screws. Pulling out his phone he opened the control app and powered up the drone. It glowed light blue for a moment and then hovered over the table. Setting it back down he looked over at Natasha. "It'll run indefinitely now. I'll plant it near where Karen picked up the alien signature and we'll see what we get."

"Tony wants an update first." Natasha dialed Tony and put the phone on speaker.

"So what's going on with the aliens?" Tony's voice echoed from the phone.

"Good morning to you too." Natasha frowned at her phone.

Tony sighed, "Good Morning Agent Romanoff. Better?"

Peter laughed. "Karen picked up something last night but it was so brief we couldn't trace it. I altered Droney with an arc reactor so he could stay active. I'm going to drop him off where we picked up the signal last night and see what happens."

"Ok. Let me know what you find. Did you have any problem getting the arc reactor into Droney?"

"No sir. It wasn't that different from pulling the reactors from the Iron Man suit." Peter picked up Droney and put him in his backpack.

"We'll let you know if we pick up anything." Natasha was shocked that Tony had let Peter work on the Iron Man suits. He never let anyone else work on the suits. "Let us know how the accords go on Monday." Natasha disconnected the call and looked over at Peter who was throwing his backpack over his shoulder. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'll find somewhere he can sit that's shielded but gives him a good view of the area. His radius should give him good coverage. Karen can record anything that triggers." Peter shrugged, "Maybe we'll get lucky."

* * *

By Monday morning they were 36 hours into Droney's stake out and they still weren't any closer to finding anything. Peter kept pulling his phone out to check for updates from Droney...so often that his phone had been taken by his teacher in the class before lunch. Luckily he could still glance down at his watch. He had seen an alert come across about an hour ago indicating that Droney had picked up a signal. That message was immediately followed by one from Mr. Stark that read _"Do not under any circumstance leave school to check this out. I mean it."_ He got another one about fifteen minutes later that started with a spider emoji with the message _"I'll pick you up after school"_. Now sitting in his final class of the day his eyes were fixed on the clock. The bell rang and he flew out of his desk. He thought he might have actually jumped over the desk next to him. Hopefully if he did no one was paying attention. Skipping his locker he ran straight to the office to retrieve his cell phone. Sliding it into his pocket after enduring a brief lecture he ran out the front door and down the steps skidding to a stop in front of Natasha's car. Pulling the door open he threw his back back in the front seat and slid in after it. "Did we find one?"

"Relax Spiderling. How was school?" Natasha smoothly pulled into traffic and headed toward the safe house.

"How was school?" Peter asked incredulously. "School was annoyingly long. What about the alien. Why aren't we headed toward Manhattan?"

"Droney and FRIDAY are keeping an eye on things. We are going to the safe house to review the intel and make a plan based on what we know."

Peter let out a frustrated growl which just made Natasha laugh. Karen piped up from Peter's watch. "Incoming call from Mr. Stark."

"Kid, I can't believe you actually stayed in school. Natasha must be a good influence."

"Tony, I'm going to remember that you said that." Natasha glanced over at Peter who was looking more and more frustrated.

"So what are you two planning on doing?"

Peter looked over at Natasha. "She wants to go to the safe house, review intel, and make a plan." The tone in his voice indicated that he thought it was the most ludicrous thing anyone could think of to do in the current situation.

"That sounds like a good idea."

Peter let out another frustrated growl. Realizing he wasn't getting any support from Mr. Stark, he changed subjects. "How are the Accords coming?"

"The Accords are being ratified as we speak. Natasha, it's going to take a couple days for the pardons to become effective so keep a low profile."

"Tony, congratulations! I know how much work you put into them. It sounds like the final version is something everyone can live with." Natasha pulled into the underground parking of the safe house.

"That's great Mr. Stark! Does that mean you're headed back to New York?"

"As soon as it's fully ratified. I'll let you know when I land. Keep me posted on what you plan to do."

"Ok. Bye Mr. Stark." Peter disconnected the call and opened the car door. Natasha followed him to the elevator and up to the common room. "What did Droney find?"

Natasha pulled up a picture on the holoscreen. "This is our alien. The energy signature that was emitted matches the Kree weapons signature. We don't think it's a weapon, the current guess is that he's using some kind of scanner."

Peter studied the picture. He looked like a normal New Yorker. "The Kree are the ones that don't shape shift, right?"

Natasha pulled up another image. "Yes, however, apparently not all Kree look like humans." The picture she pulled up showed a humanoid with distinctly blue skin. "I was able to get some additional intel on them. They tend to go the route of genocide and universe domination with some genetic manipulation thrown in for fun."

Peter frowned, "That sounds an awful lot like Hydra."

Natasha pulled up the original picture of the guy Karen had tagged as a Kree. "Yeah, funny that you say that because the name this guy has been going by it tied in with Hydra."

"Ok, first my drug dealers are tied in with Hydra and now the aliens are? Isn't that a little weird." Peter sat down in the chair in front of the holoscreen.

"When we exposed Hydra the one thing we did learn is that while there's an overall structure with a single goal there are a lot of splinter cells as well. The intel on Hydra's involvement with the Maggia came from the information dump. Being involved with the Maggia added a funding source. Hydra provided resources to the heads of the family in exchange they got a cut of the profits." Natasha sat down in the other chair and looked up at the screen. "This alien thing seems like it may be a little closer to the core Hydra group. SHIELD is chasing some leads but what they've uncovered so far indicates that Hydra's involvement with the Kree goes back centuries but they don't have details."

Peter crossed his arms and looked over at Natasha. "So what are we going to do?"

"We are going to gather intel tonight. I know you want to make a difference and you want to keep people safe and that doing recon and surveillance isn't exactly what you enjoy doing but it's important."

Peter nodded. "I get it. I'm just glad you're not shutting me down."

Natasha smiled. "We'll see if I can manage to not get you hurt before Tony comes back." Shifting her attention back to the screen she pulled up a map of Manhattan. "Once Karen identified our target, FRIDAY put together a timeline and path of his movements. He has a routine. I can't figure out what he's doing though. And I can't tell who else is an alien. So the goal will be to identify if any of the people he associates with are also Kree. Bonus if we can get any information on what they're doing." She looked over at Peter. "That's it. We don't want to tip our hand until we know more."

Peter sighed. "Ok, so gathering intel. What's the plan?"

"You go high. FRIDAY is going to update Karen on some additional scan parameters I was able to get from Fury. Hopefully she'll be able to tell if any of his associates are human or Kree. I'm your backup if you get into trouble."

"So you're my babysitter." Frustration was apparent in Peter's voice. He was capable of following someone and gathering intel on his own.

"Peter, I may be able to see something from the ground that you can't see. Plus Tony will kill me if I let you near this without backup. And, honestly, I'm going a little stir crazy staying in the safe house. Picking you up from school has been the highlight of the last two weeks."

Peter smiled at the school comment. Black Widow probably hadn't picked up many kids from school before. "I'm sure Happy would love to give up his school pickup duties."

Natasha shook her head. "I'm not volunteering for a permanent assignment. Go swing around Queens. Burn off some energy. I'll meet you in Manhattan tonight at 8pm."


	24. Chapter 24 - Battle in Central Park

Peter crouched on a roof above the streets of Manhattan. Natasha was on the street below him, about a half a block behind their target. Her voice was piped through his mask. Peter was definitely learning to appreciate the fact that the mask made communication so easy. He knew Natasha had an earpiece in. It didn't matter how advanced the technology got, it still looked uncomfortable. "You got him?" Natasha's voice came through clearly. Peter glanced down, "Yes." He glanced ahead and saw Central Park looming in the distance. "Nat, you know if he goes into Central Park I'll have to follow from the edge. If I go through the park I'm too low and he'll see me."

"I know. It'll be fine. When he crossed through the park previously he was alone and he went straight to his apartment. Plus Fury thinks there's only two others and they've yet to make any kind of appearance." Natasha closed the gap between her and the target as he reached the park. Peter was right, she would be the only set of eyes on him until he got back on the main streets. "When we get there, skirt around to the right. He should turn that way about half way through."

"I don't like this." Peter honestly couldn't tell if his spidey sense was starting to tingle or if the thought of losing sight of the target was just making him anxious.

"Has Karen picked up on any other signatures?" Natasha glanced around the entrance of the park.

"No, but even with the additional data the scans aren't really effective. This guy only shows up if she targets him directly instead of a wide scan. She's targeting everyone within 500 feet but we won't be able to see as well once you're in the park." Peter landed on the side of a high rise next to Central Park. Leaning out he watched the target and Natasha enter the park. "Karen, how many individuals are within 500 feet of the target?"

"Too many to scan effectively. Recommend limiting scan to 100 feet."

Peter looked down at the park below him. Natasha and the target were illuminated on the map overlay on his HUD. "Limit focused scanning to 100 feet." Yellow dots popped up on the overlay indicating the scan targets. As Karen cleared each one, the dots turned green. Peter scaled the building he was hanging on to get back to the roof so he could move quicker. Keeping up with Natasha, he followed them through the park.

"Additional targets identified."

Peter heard a quiet "Shit" through the coms as red dots lit up on his HUD. "Nat, there's four of them in addition to the target." Quickly evaluating his options, Peter dove off the roof of the building he was on and shot a web to a much lower building that would bring him closer to the park. Keeping an eye on his HUD he watched the red dots move closer together. The path Natasha was on was going to take her directly to them. He paused on the lower building to see if she could manage to pass them. On the HUD it looked like they were now grouped together and Natasha was just a few feet away. He thought she had managed to walk by unnoticed until she heard a voice through her coms. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm just walking home, I don't want any trouble."

Peter thought she had played the part of innocent well, but apparently not well enough. Natasha's dot merged with the group and he heard her gauntlets charging. Launching off the building he webbed onto another building and propelled himself over the lower trees bordering the path. Launching two taser webs as he landed on two of the men, he pulled them towards each other. The combined force threw them together and momentarily knocked them off balance. "Karen, why didn't that take them down like it did before? Increase the voltage."

"Peter, that was the maximum voltage. Close quarters scan indicates that they're all wearing some sort of body armor. It is absorbing the energy."

Peter was pretty sure Karen had piped her analysis into Natasha's coms because she immediately pulled one of her guns and fired multiple rounds into the closest target. Apparently the body armor was thick enough to stop bullets as well because the impacts barely slowed him down. Peter's spidey sense went off forcing him into a roll to avoid a blast from one of the weapons. He had been able to avoid most of the hits and was managing to deflect a couple into his opponents as well but he and Natasha were completely outmatched.

Peter detected movement behind him at the same time he thought he heard a repulsor charging.

"On your six kid."

"Tony?" Already in the process of wrapping one of the attackers up in webs, he flung him into a tree and fired a series of web grenades effectively binding him to the trunk. Flipping up and back to avoid another attacker he spotted Iron Man landing in the middle of the battle and firing both repulsors at the three attackers in front of him. "What are you doing here? Is it you you or suit you?"

"It's me. Karen sent out an SOS. Less talking, more fighting." Firing both repulsors at one of the attackers he drove him to the ground.

Peter took the opportunity to fire web grenades at the one that was down, binding arms and legs. He glanced over to see Natasha pull one of them to the ground. As soon as she pushed off her quarry's back he fired web grenades at that one as well. Two remaining targets were identified on his HUD and apparently they were the ones with the bigger weapons. Targeting the one closest to him, he flipped up, landing a well placed kick to his target's chest driving him back and into Natasha who landed a blow of her own knocking the weapon from his hands. Iron Man fired both repulsors into the targets chest driving him to the ground as well.

An additional dot lit up on Peter's HUD as he turned and saw the remaining Kree aim his weapon at Iron Man. As the Kree pulled the trigger, he was tackled to the ground, causing the weapons fire to hit a tree directly next to Iron Man.

Tony ducked as the energy blast hit the tree. Looking at the source he saw the last combatant on the ground. The man that had tackled him and knocked him unconscious stood up and faced them.

"Sorry I'm late."


	25. Chapter 25 - Rooftop Talk

Peter saw the imposing figure of Steve Rogers rise from his position over the final Kree. Not really registering what anyone was saying, 'tried to kill each other' echoed in his head and he instinctively stepped in front of Iron Man placing himself between the two men.

Steve studied the figure standing in front of him. He still didn't know his name and Nat hadn't offered it up when she talked about him. He just knew Nat had been impressed and he knew Tony was, so that was enough for him. He wasn't sure what had prompted Spider-Man to position himself the way he did but he thought it probably had more to do with Tony than it did the last interaction he had with him. Deciding to err on the side of caution he stayed in position and just offered a greeting. "Queens."

Peter crossed his arms. "Brooklyn." He heard Tony's voice in his ear. "Pete? You good?" Peter gave a small nod in response.

Natasha moved between Peter and Steve. Facing Peter she looked at him. "You're not hurt?"

Peter shook his head. "No ma'am. Are you ok?" He tilted his head and studied a small cut on her temple.

"I've had worse. You did good!" Glancing over Peter's shoulder at Tony she shook her head. "Fury's intel was bad. We were in too far before we realized." She glanced around, "We're starting to draw a crowd." She looked back at Steve. "Can you help me clean up?" After getting Steve's affirmative nod, she turned back to Tony. "Why don't you two get out of here. We'll take care of this."

Tony stepped around Peter to face him. "Pick a roof top, I'll meet you there in 2 minutes."

Peter recognized the order in the tone and nodded in agreement. Stepping back to flip onto a light pole, he looked up at Iron Man again. "Are you sure?"

Tony nodded. He muted himself to everyone but Peter. "It'll be fine. I'll be there in 2 minutes." He watched Peter flip onto the light pole and web to a building to make his way higher. Turning back around he looks at Steve and Natasha. "In 30 seconds or less explain to me why this went from a recon mission to a full blown battle. The ink isn't even dry on the Accords." He knew Natasha understood why he was upset and that it had very little to do with the Accords.

"Tony, it's on me. They made my tail and forced the situation. Spidey did good." Natasha was already checking that all of the Kree were secured. "We'll take care of clean up. I'll call Fury to grab some of them but I want the live ones."

Tony nodded. "The one on the tree and the one over there are the two that are still breathing." He knew Natasha understood that the status of the aliens was not to be discussed with Peter. Hitting his boot jets he took off to find his kid.

* * *

Tony landed on the roof behind Peter. He knew it was a ridiculous thought but somehow the kid looked both older and younger than the last time he saw him. His legs were dangling off the roof and his mask was in his hands. FRIDAY had already interfaced with Karen and he knew that Peter hadn't been hurt. Swinging an armored leg over the parapet he maneuvered his way until he was sitting next to Peter. "Thanks for not picking the Empire State Building."

Peter laughed and looked over at Mr. Stark. "There's too many bats." His expression becoming more subdued, he looked back down at Central Park. "I'm sorry you had to come help."

"I'm not. If you're going to be in the middle of a fight I want to be there. And, not because I don't trust you to handle yourself. I want to be there because fighting as a team is better than fighting alone."

Peter glanced over at Tony when he mentioned team. "Is that what's going to happen? The Avengers will come back like nothing happened?" If Peter was honest with himself he wasn't entirely sure what he was asking. He wasn't sure what his role would be once the Avengers were back. He also didn't know if they were a team. 'Tried to kill each other' echoed through his brain again.

"Well, Natasha is already calling you her Junior Avenger so I feel fairly safe in saying that you're a member of the team." Tony looked at Peter trying to tell what he was thinking. "That is if you want to be. You've already turned it down once. If you still want to just help the little guy you can do that too."

Peter smiled at the Junior Avenger comment. "When I turned you down I was still a little overwhelmed by what happened with the Vulture. Sticking close to the ground and helping the little guy seemed to be a better option at the time."

"And now?" Tony genuinely wasn't sure what Peter's answer would be. And, he was ok with either answer. They would still work in the lab on Wednesday's and every other weekend regardless if Peter became part of the team.

"Now, the idea of backup, both having backup and being someone else's backup is something I really want." Peter looked down at the street below them. "Do you trust them?"

Tony thought about Peter's question. Trust was such a complicated concept. Did he trust the rest of them to do what ever it took to save the world? Without a doubt. Did he trust them to watch his back? Maybe. Did he trust them to watch Peter's back? That thought almost knocked the breath out of him. Did he trust them to watch Peter's back...his gut told him yes, but the idea of Peter's safety being in someone else's hands was something he realized he wasn't sure he was ready for. "I trust that Steve wants to rebuild the team. He knows that trust between teammates is the cornerstone of that so I think he'll do whatever he can to make sure we don't have a repeat of last year. I trust Natasha and Steve to do what they can to rebuild the team and if that includes you then I trust them with that."

Peter took a deep breath. "Even after last year?"

Tony studied Peter. Somehow the kid knew what had happened in Siberia. He wasn't sure how but it explained Peter moving between him and Steve. "Even after last year. Steve and I both made mistakes. I'll be honest, I do struggle with resetting our relationship. A year ago I would have called him my friend. Now, I don't know what it is but I think it's something that needs to be rebuilt, and it's something that I think we're both willing to do."

Tony let what he said sink in. There was something else they needed to discuss. It had already been a pretty heavy conversation but he didn't think he could wait. "The pardons will be coming down sometime later this week. Depending on what's going on, Natasha may stay at the safe house instead of coming back to the compound. Because of what's going on with Hydra, the rest of them will be showing up before long. The more we find out, the larger their operation looks. Whatever we do will probably involve everyone." Tony paused and looked at Peter. He was torn about what he wanted Peter's answer to be to the question he was about to ask. "You're going to need to decide what you want to do about your identity. I'll support whatever decision you make."

Peter had already given the question some thought. Keeping his identity secret was the one foolproof way he had to keep the people he cared about safe. The longer he was Spider-Man the more enemies he made. But, he knew he wanted to be part of a team. "Mr. Stark, if I want to be part of a team then the team has to be able to trust me. They can't do that if they don't know who I am."

Tony smiled. The kid was way more mature than the rest of them. He was positive if faced with the same situation, the rest of them, himself included, would not have answered the same way. "Ok. That's what we'll do then. Next big question...do you want to skip school tomorrow? Alien battle rules still apply."

Peter grinned. "I have a physics test tomorrow." He shook his head, "I'm good. This isn't freaking me out as much as it did before. I think I'm probably going to have to sneak in though. I don't think I'm making curfew."

Tony chuckled. "I'll fix it with May. You sure you're ok?"

Peter nodded. "I'm good. I may need a ride home. I used a lot of web fluid. I'm not sure I have enough to swing home."

Tony laughed. "I'll get Happy to pick us up. I don't want to fly either."

"Hey, how'd your get to Central Park so fast?" Peter hadn't thought about it until now but he had gotten there too fast to have been coming from the compound.

"I was about 20,000 feet up. We were on our way back when Karen sent the SOS." Tony checked where Happy was. When he had left the plane he had told Happy to land the jet and bring the car back to the city. He'd be here soon. "I'll get Happy to bring us cheeseburgers too."


	26. Chapter 26 - Unmasked

Natasha pulled the cell door shut. She was confident that both cells would hold their captives. She and Steve had already gotten a decent amount of information out of them. They were remarkably egotistical and didn't mind telling them what they were doing because they thought humans were beneath them. They seemed to think that most life forms were beneath them. It turned out to be an interesting interrogation. She'd finish up in the morning and deliver them to Fury before Peter got out of school. She had a feeling she'd be seeing Tony and Peter tomorrow afternoon so she could fill them in then.

Steve met her at the elevator. "Are our guests tucked in for the night?"

Natasha nodded. "They're not going anywhere. I'll take another run at them in the morning and then deliver them to Fury." She pulled the freight elevator door down and pushed the button to take them up to the main common area.

"So this is really Spider-Man's safe house? He didn't strike me as someone that would have a warehouse in Queens." Steve looked around the open room as Natasha opened the freight elevator door.

"No, it's Tony's safe house that he has for Spider-Man. Apparently Tony lost it when he found out that the kid watched a YouTube video to learn how to stitch himself up. This was the compromise." Natasha walked around the open common room. "It really is a good idea to have something like this. We might want to look into setting one up in a couple different places."

Steve looked around. "Tony did all of this for Spider-Man."

Natasha couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement. "Steve, there's something different about Tony. If there's one good thing that came out of that disaster last year it's Spider-Man." She paused. "So don't mess it up."

"Nat, I know. I'm trying." Steve hated the way things were. They were close to being able to start putting things back together again. The last thing he wanted to do was to put them back to square one again.

Natasha softened her tone, "I know." Grabbing his hand she dragged him back to the elevator. "Come one, I'll show you the rest of the building."

* * *

Tony drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He had gotten into the city earlier than he needed to, but he didn't have any where else to be. He had seriously thought about checking Peter out early, but a sense of responsibility took over and he realized he couldn't check the kid out just because he was early...and bored. So, he parked and waited for the bell to ring. Peter had actually been the one to suggest going to the safe house after school. Tony thought it was out of a mixture of wanting to know more about the aliens and wanting to get the face to face meeting with Steve out of the way. Either way, when the kid texted and asked if he would pick him up after school so they could go to the safe house together there was no way Tony was going to say no.

Kids poured out of the front doors moments after the bell rang. Peter opened the door of the Audi and slid into the passenger seat. "Hey Mr. Stark!"

"How'd the physics test go?" Tony maneuvered through the sea of cars to the main road and headed toward the safe house.

"No issues. And no homework. I think all of the teachers realize that Spring Break is only a few weeks away and that half of their students are mentally checked out already."

Spring Break brought back a stream of memories for Tony. Or, actually, a stream of memories with punctuations of black holes of alcohol induced memory loss. He was extraordinarily glad that Peter was not following in those footsteps. "What are you doing for Spring Break?"

Peter shrugged. "MJ and Ned are both visiting relatives. I was kind of hoping I could come out to the compound a little bit more that week?" He looked over at Tony hoping his request wouldn't get shot down.

"Want to spend the entire week?" Tony looked over at Peter to gauge his response. He was thrilled the kid wanted to spend extra days there.

"Really? I'd love to. I mean, I have to check with May, but that would be great!"

Tony smiled to himself as he turned down the street to reach the safe house. Pulling into the underground parking he glanced over at Peter. "You're still ok with Steve and the others knowing your identity?"

Peter nodded. "I am." He opened the car door, got out and followed Mr. Stark to the elevator.

Steve and Natasha were reviewing video and looked up when the elevator doors pulled open. Tony and Peter stepped off. Tony had given Natasha a heads up that Peter was ok sharing his identity with the others, starting with Steve. Natasha took it as encouraging after the way Peter had inserted himself between Steve and Tony last night. It had dawned on her in that moment that it wasn't just Tony who was protective but also Peter. She knew Steve would protect Peter's identity as well as Peter himself so she felt like Peter being willing to trust Steve with his identity was definitely a step in the right direction.

Steve walked over to Peter and offered his hand. "Queens, it's nice to meet you without the mask."

Peter reached out to shake Steve's hand. "Peter Parker."

"Natasha said on top of being good in the field, you're also giving Tony a run for his money on the genius side too. Something about watching you take an arc reactor out of her gauntlets to make a drone run longer? That's pretty impressive."

Peter shook his head, "It's just because Mr. Stark let's me work in the lab with him sometimes."

Natasha walked over and took Peter by the arm and pulled him away. She could tell he didn't like the praise. "Come on, I'll start filling you in on what we've gotten from the aliens so far."

Steve caught Tony's arm as he started to follow. "I'll protect him. I want you to understand that."

Tony looked at Steve. "I expect you to."

Steve released Tony's arm and they followed Natasha and Peter. She had pulled up the map of Manhattan focused on the area they were in last night.

"So the Kree are interesting. Very egotistical. They have a superiority complex and they assume they're better than everyone else. This particular group were the remaining members of the group that you ran into a couple months ago." Natasha glanced over at Peter who was taking in everything she was saying. "They're basically a kill squad. Their single mission was to hunt down rogue Skrull."

Peter looked over at Tony. "That fits with what I saw. The other ones were definitely chasing the Skrull and were way more interested in killing them than me."

Steve looked between Tony and Peter. "Do you have video feeds from that incident? I'd like to review them since I'm coming into this late."

Tony nodded. "FRIDAY will download them to you."

Peter looked back at the map. "So what were they doing last night? That was a lot of body armor and weapons for recon."

Natasha highlighted a building. "They had intel that some Skrulls were holed up here. Like I said, they're a kill squad. They were planning on taking out the Skrulls. Collateral damage didn't matter."

Tony studied the building. "Do we know what that building is? And if the Skrulls are actually there?"

Natasha shook her head. "The building ownership traces back to a shell corporation and I haven't been able to get back to a warm body."

"I'll get FRIDAY on it." Tony enlarged the map and looked at the building.

"As far as the Skrull's go, we don't know, but I'm assuming we can use Droney to continue to monitor the building?" Natasha looked at Peter for confirmation.

"Yeah, I'll reposition him tonight." Peter looked at the zoomed in picture of the building. He tilted his head to the side and pointed at vent stacks on the roof. "Those look like hood vents for a lab."

Tony looked at where Peter was pointing. "They do. Why don't I reposition Droney. I'll get FRIDAY to do some additional scans of the building. She's got a little more power than Karen does."

Steve looked at Natasha and mouthed "Who's Karen?"

She waived him off. She could fill him in later. She was a little more curious as to what Tony thought he saw and why he didn't want Peter near it


	27. Chapter 27 - No Fly Zone

Tony hovered over the roof of the building the Kree had been targeting. "FRIDAY, deep scan the building." Schematics rolled across his HUD as FRIDAY worked her way through the building. It was definitely lab space complete with cold storage. "Anything on the ownership? Is it who I think it is?"

"The building is owned by multiple corporations each with a different country of origin. Likelihood of Oscorp ownership is 85%."

Tony waited long enough for FRIDAY to finish her scans then took off for the safe house.

* * *

Natasha and Steve looked up from the holoscreen when Tony walked through the roof entrance. Steve furrowed his brows, "Whats wrong?"

"Manhattan building is off limits. And you need to help me keep Peter away from it." Tony walked into the small kitchen and grabbed a water bottle.

"Ok. Why?" Natasha leaned back in her chair and watched Tony. She could tell he was agitated.

"There's a good chance the building belongs to Oscorp. The field trip Peter was on when he got bitten..."

Natasha finished his sentence, "was to Oscorp? Why on earth would you take kids there? It's pretty well known that Norman Osborn lacks ethics."

Tony rubbed his hand across his face. "Yeah but they also have cutting edge technology. Not as good as SI but they're in the top ten."

Steve interjected, "You think Peter is in danger?"

Tony shook his head. "No, but only because no one knows who or what he is. I don't want Osborn anywhere near him. I don't want to risk anyone putting the pieces together. As far as I can tell people think Spider-Man is just a mutant. That he was just born with certain abilities. If anyone found out he wasn't born that way...", he looked over at Steve. "He's the closest anyone's come to a stable super soldier since the 40's. The DNA markers aren't identical but it's not hard to see what the intention was."

Steve understood Tony's concern. People had been chasing a super soldier serum for almost a century. Fortunes had been spent and many lives had been lost. He had seen first hand the lengths people would go to. "Tony, we'll make sure Peter stays away from it. If anyone understands what's at stake it's us."

Natasha looked at Steve and Tony. "Ok, you two need to promise me you won't get mad. Also, appreciate the irony that this is coming from me." She paused to make sure she had their attention. "You can't keep this from Peter. You two are intimately familiar with what happens when you hide things."

Tony and Steve both turned to stare at Natasha.

"He's going to find out. Peter is a smart kid. If he finds out on his own he'll investigate. If you tell him, he'll listen. And, if he doesn't, surely between all of us we can keep him away from it." Natasha stared at the two of them and waited for their response.

"Tony, I think she's probably right. He listens to you and more than that respects your opinion."

Tony sighed. He knew both of them were right. He also knew Peter. If he got something in his head he didn't let it go. "You're underestimating him. We won't be able to stop him."

Natasha smiled. "Then we'll distract him. We've gotten more intel on the warehouse in Queens. I've been walking Steve through what we know. And.." she reached over and grabbed a plastic bag off the table. "I got a sample of what they're making. Can you analyze it?"

Tony took the bag from Natasha and studied the pills inside. "I'll let Peter help me with it tomorrow when he comes to the compound. How big is their operation?"

"Bigger than just running a small lab to manufacture designer drugs. Production is large scale and these are starting to show up everywhere. No deaths so far." She pulled up two pictures on the holoscreen. "This is the part that's bothering me more. These two are both pretty high up in Hydra's ranks. They showed up yesterday, as did a lot more security. They're supplementing the Manfredi's normal muscle."

"So this is turning into a large scale mission on the streets of New York. I'll get Rhodey to start working the channels we'll need to go through to work within the Accords and avoid getting thrown in jail." He looked over at Steve. "The pardons should go through Thursday morning. Work on getting who we need for this to the compound this weekend."

"Tony, I know you may not be ready...".

Tony cut him off. "Bring him. He's good in a fight and I'd rather have too much firepower than not enough, especially if Peter is involved." Tony paused, "When you two are planning this, make sure give Peter an assignment that won't give me a heart attack."


	28. Chapter 28 - Army of Mutants

Tony parked in what seemed to have become his normal parking space in front of Peter's school. If someone had told him a year ago that he would be picking up a high school kid on a regular basis he would have thought they were crazy. Now, there really wasn't any where else he would rather be. He had all but stopped getting Happy to pick up Peter unless it was unavoidable and those times were few and far between.

Peter opened the car door and slid into the passenger seat. "Hey Mr. Stark! Any update on the Skrulls?"

"Not much. I'll fill you in when we get to the compound. Nat did give us a homework assignment. She got a hold of the drug your dealers are making. Our job is to figure out what's in it." Tony glanced over at Peter. It wasn't often Tony put him off about talking about something. He wasn't sure if he'd pick up on it or not. Which is why he had buried it in the comment about Nat's homework assignment.

"Really? That's actually pretty cool. I've broken down substances before, but not illegal drugs."

Tony chuckled. "So the other piece of news is that the pardons should be in place tomorrow. I told Steve to start working on getting everybody to the compound this weekend. Think May will let you stay up there all weekend?"

"I think I can talk her into it. Are you sure you want me there the whole time?" Peter looked over at Mr. Stark. He still wasn't feeling overly secure about his place with the Avengers.

"Yes. All weekend. We can work on the Iron Spider this weekend too." Tony wanted Peter there when the others got there. He wanted no confusion about Peter's place on the team. If he brought him in after everyone was there some might think it was up for debate. If Peter was already there when they returned there would be no mistaking the intent. It's one of those things Pepper had drilled into him over the years. Optics meant everything.

They discussed how they wanted to analyze the drugs the rest of the way to the compound and had a general idea of what they wanted to do by the time they got there. Peter's grasp of chemistry never failed to impress Tony. "It's a good thing you're a super hero. You'd make one hell of a super villain."

Peter rolled his eyes at Tony's comment as they entered the lab. They spent the next couple hours breaking down and analyzing the samples Natasha had given them. Peter sat back in his chair looking at the screen in front of him. "I can identify everything but this." He pointed at a chemical structure on the screen. "It doesn't occur naturally, at least it hasn't been identified if it does and it doesn't have the normal markers that a synthetic compound does."

"FRIDAY, run it through everything we have. Start with SHIELD's databases." Tony sat down in the chair next to Peter's. "Any guess as to what it does?"

Peter shrugged. "No idea. You?" He saw Tony shake his head while looking at the screen. Turning his attention back to the read out of components he continued. "Here's the other thing I don't get. How much did you say Nat paid for this?"

"$20, which seems much cheaper than the last time I bought drugs. Which arguably was over a decade ago but still you'd think they'd be more expensive." Tony looked at Peter after realizing what he had said. "Incidentally that's one of those things you're not supposed to do."

"I don't think you have to worry. Advil doesn't work on me. Why would something like this?" Peter grinned at the look on Tony's face. "It costs three times that for the component parts. They're losing money."

"Which means there's another reason for distributing." Tony looked at the structure floating in front of Peter. "And, it probably has something to do with this. Ok, it'll take FRIDAY time to run everything. Let's go upstairs and grab dinner. Maybe she'll find something before we have to head back to the city."

* * *

Pepper had started making sure there was actual food on Wednesday's so Peter and Tony wouldn't have an excuse to just order take out every week. Peter sat on one of the bar stools while Tony threw everything in the oven. "So what's up with the Skrulls. Have they been spotted again?"

Tony knew he wouldn't have forgotten about it so he was somewhat expecting the question. While he agreed that keeping his suspicions and fears from Peter was not a good idea, he still wasn't thrilled about having this conversation. "So, about that. I'm putting that building on your 'No Fly List'"

"But why? That's not fair." Peter knew he sounded indignant but keeping him away from it didn't make sense.

Tony put his hands on the counter and took a deep breath before looking up at Peter. "Because I'm fairly certain that building belongs to Oscorp."

"Oh." Peter frowned and looked down. They did not talk about Oscorp very much. In fact, that had talked about it once and that was it.

"Pete, I'm just worried if we pull on that thread, he'll find out who you are. While the mutations to your DNA aren't identical to Steve's, they're close enough that it isn't hard to figure out that they were working on a super soldier formula. Norman Osborn's morality and ethics make Hitler look like a Boy Scout." Tony took another deep breath. "Osborn getting anywhere near you is not an option."

"Ok." Peter looked up and locked eyes with Tony. "I get it. I don't want to pull that thread any more than you do."

"So you'll stay away from the building?" Tony was a little surprised Peter was taking this as well as he was.

"I don't like letting the Skrull thing go. But yes, I'll stay away from the building."

Relief spread through Tony. "I can't tell you how relieved I am that you're ok with this. I was worried you would push it."

Peter frowned again. "I'm not an idiot. I know how dangerous Osborn is - if he finds out who I am it puts everybody I care about at risk. I'm not happy about dropping the Skrulls and Karen will still actively scan when I'm out but I'll stay away from the building."

"That's all I'm asking." Tony smiled as the timer beeped telling them dinner was ready.

* * *

FRIDAY alerted them as they were cleaning up from dinner that a possible match has been found. "FRIDAY, pull it up in here."

FRIDAY displayed a crystal formation on the screen in the living room. "The substance isolated from the sample today is a 75% match to the structure of a crystal recovered in Puerto Rico. SHIELD has it recorded in their database as a Terrigen Crystal. The crystals are thought to be of alien origin."

"Well, that explains why we didn't recognize the structure." Peter looked at the crystal displayed on the screen. "What do they think they're used for?"

Tony read through the report summary FRIDAY had pulled up on the screen. "FRIDAY, cross reference 'Inhumans'."

"Inhumans are the name given to individuals with mutated DNA. These mutations are thought to be latent until exposed to Terrigen mist."

Peter narrowed his eyes at the screen. "I don't think I like being called Inhuman."

Tony shook his head, "You're not. You're enhanced like Steve and Barnes. It's an important distinction. Your DNA wasn't mutated until it was exposed to the venom from the spider. This is talking about people born with mutations. The mist or whatever it is just triggers them." Tony looked over at Peter. "FRIDAY would have picked up on it off you had any of this Terrigen in your DNA. Right FRIDAY?"

"Yes Boss. Peter's mutated DNA does not carry any of the signatures related to Terrigen."

"See. Just your run of the mill irradiated super soldier spider." Tony smiled at the look on Peter's face.

"Great, now I'm going to have nightmares about an army of spiders dressed in BDU's carrying little guns."

Tony laughed and turned back to the screen. "So they're including a Terrigen derivative in this drug that they're selling ridiculously cheap." Tony rolled the facts around in his head. "FRIDAY, is there anything else in this structure that could give off some kind of signal?" He saw the confusion on Peter's face. "Something that if the DNA is triggered from the exposure it could identify the individual if they were scanned."

"There isn't enough data to confirm but depending on the process it is possible that a specific signature is emitted that would allow that individual to be tracked."

Peter crossed his arms and studied the screen. "That's bad, right?"

"FRIDAY, send all of this to Natasha." He dismissed the holoscreen and looked at Peter who seemed like he was still rolling ideas around. "What are you thinking?"

"If this is Hydra, they're all about taking over the world, right? If there's a way to track these Inhumans and then recruit them, they now have an army of mutants. My guess is these mutant abilities aren't things like an extra limb or that puppies find you irresistible. It's probably more along the lines of that girl that was in Germany with Captain Rogers?" Peter looked at Tony for confirmation in his line of thinking.

"Yes. Hydra would become that much harder to defeat." Tony frowned at the idea of an army of mutants. "And, her name is Wanda. You'll like her. She should be here this weekend with Vision."


	29. Chapter 29 - I Am Calm

Tony turned his head and looked at Peter who was currently bouncing on his toes. "I need you to calm down."

"I am calm." Peter thought he was doing a good job of covering up how nervous he was. He was currently fighting the urge to jump to the roof of the overhang the were standing under and retreat to the lab. Or his room. Or the gym. Really anywhere but here. Maybe he could help Pepper with something SI related.

Natasha crossed her arms and glared at the Tony and Peter. "I need both of you to calm down."

"I am calm." Tony glared back at Natasha.

"FRIDAY, what's Tony's current heart rate?" Natasha stared at Tony.

"Boss's heart rate is currently 130 beats per minute."

"It does sound a little fast." Peter looked up at Tony, concern in his voice.

"FRIDAY, what's Peter's heart rate?" Natasha shifted her attention to Peter.

"Peter's heart rate is 90 beats per minutes."

"That's not bad." Peter responded defensively.

"Kid, your resting heart rate is 50." Tony frowned at Peter, pulling his glasses off and looking at him, concern apparent on his face.

"You both need to calm down before they land which means you have about 3 minutes to get it together. Tony, the Winter Soldier is dead. They were able to remove all of his programming. Barnes isn't responsible for any of it and you need to give him a chance." Natasha didn't stop to let Tony respond, instead she turned to Peter. "I don't understand why you are this nervous. They're no different from myself or Steve. You didn't freak out then, why are you freaking out now?"

"The last time I saw them I webbed them both to the floor!" Panic seeped through Peter. He could easily make the roof of the overhang before Natasha could grab him. It was still an option.

"That's why you're nervous?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Never apologize for being good at your job." Natasha realized her tone had a bit more of a bite to it than she intended. She softened her approach a little. "They're both looking forward to meeting Spider-Man when he's not webbing them up. It will be fine. And, I think you'll like both of them." She saw Peter turn his head and focus on the landing pad. She realized he could probably hear the engines of the Quinjet so she turned and watched where she thought they'd make their decent. Thirty seconds later she could pick up the faint sounds of the engines. The kids' hearing was truly remarkable. She glanced to the two standing next to her to make sure they weren't going to make a run for it. Both were still firmly planted in place although it looked like they had both shifted closer to each other. Natasha smirked and turned her attention back to the landing pad.

The Quinjet descended on the pad and settled softly on its landing gear. Steve had left last night with Rhodey to make the somewhat long flight to Wakanda. Even with the Quinjets flight capabilities, Wakanda was still halfway around the world. The ramp lowered and Rhodey appeared at the opening and walked down, quickly crossing over to stand next to Tony.

"You good?" Rhodey quietly asked his friend. He knew Tony was struggling with Barnes. The logical side of Tony knew that the Winter Soldier and James Buchanan Barnes were two different individuals. The emotional side of Tony did not. Tony's emotional side typically won.

Tony looked over at Peter before glancing back at Rhodey. "Yeah, I'm good. No issues on the flight?"

Rhodey shook his head. "Easy flight. The two of you have been invited to visit Wakanda. I was instructed by T'Challa's sister to bring Iron Man and Spider-Man for a visit." He looked past Rhodey to Peter. "She's a couple years older than you and can more than keep up with the two of you in a lab."

Peter smiled and turned his attention back to the landing pad. The remaining passengers had disembarked and were heading toward them. Sam Wilson reached the group first. He dropped his bag to the ground and reached over and hugged Natasha. "Good to see you." Straightening back, he looked over at Tony. "Stark, good to see you too."

James Buchanan Barnes stopped next to Sam. Nodding to Tony, he fixed his eyes on Peter and smiled. "Still got webs?"

Peter grinned, "Still got a metal arm?" Eyes locked with Bucky, he triggered both web-shooters, shot a web at Sam's bag and yanked it up attaching it to the overhang.

Bucky laughed and held out his right hand. Peter deactivated his web-shooters and shook Bucky's hand. "Peter Parker."

"James Barnes, call me Bucky."

Sam reached over and shook Peter's hand too. "Sam Wilson. You are getting my bag down, right?"

"Right." Peter jumped up and held on to the edge of the overhang with one hand and pulled down Sam's hijacked bag, dropping it next to him. Swinging himself he released and landed next to Tony.

"Show off." Sam grumbled. "Are those nanotech?" He asked, pulling up Peter's arm.

Steve stepped forward, "Everyone can show off their new toys later. Let's get you two settled. Clint will be here in about an hour. Vision and Wanda will be here tonight."

Sam and Bucky flanked Peter, "Come on Underoos, show us where our rooms are."

Steve, Rhodey, Tony, and Natasha watched the three walk off, Peter talking a mile a minute about nanotech and Falcon's wings. Tony thought he heard Peter ask about the bird drone as they rounded the corner.

* * *

Peter glanced around the room. He was sitting in the Avenger command center. With the Avengers. His hero worship had worn off over the last year but sitting here with them now was surreal. He glanced over at the screens that completely covered one wall. Different screens held different information. Persons of interest within Hydra and the Manfredi crime family. The crystal substance he and Mr. Stark had discovered the other night. The building that was also currently displayed as a three dimensional structure in the middle of the table. Steve had already caught everyone up on what Hydra and the Manfredi's were doing and what we suspected was their ultimate goal. Now they were starting to talk about actually going in. An actual mission.

"Tony, Rhodey, Vision, and Sam, you're creating a hole here and here." Steve pointed to the east wall and the north wall. "With that distraction, Natasha, Wanda, myself, and Bucky are going through the front door. Clint, you're on the northeast corner. Peter, you're on the southwest corner. No one gets in, no one gets out. Coming off the accords it is imperative that this doesn't expand out to the street."

Tony glanced over at Peter, who was sitting next to him. He was glad to see he didn't look overwhelmed. He had been worried how the kid would handle his first mission briefing. He was handling it great. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised but part of him had been dreading this moment.

"Once we're in - Tony, Rhodey, and Sam, you're inside. You're not going to have a lot of air space but we'll need the fire power. The objectives for the inside teams, containment, destruction of their supply, make it so they can't make more."

Simple.


	30. Chapter 30 - Assault on Hydra

Peter perched on the edge of the roof. He could see the glint of red and gold on the side of the building and knew it was about to get loud. It was the one thing Mr. Stark had been worried about. Peter's hearing was so sensitive, there was some concern that even being on the outskirts of the fight it might be too loud. They had tweaked the Iron Spider suit and increased the suits ability to block noise. If he needed to hear better, Karen could reduce it back but Mr. Stark had insisted on starting with it higher than normal.

He saw the repulsor blast and knew it was starting. Keeping his eyes trained on the building he saw two of the three teams entering the building. Rhodey and Sam were on the other side. "Karen, monitor all traffic within 3 blocks. Foot and vehicle." The two sides of the building that he was responsible for included the underground parking.

He could hear the com chatter but it wasn't nearly as much as he expected. Even being apart for almost a year, they still worked like a well oiled machine. He could hear weapons fire but nothing that was overly concerning.

"Peter, a distress call was sent from the building." Karen piped into his ear.

"Ok, let me know if you see anything headed this way." Peter watched the building. He could see flares of gunfire periodically in the windows but it seemed to be going well.

"Peter, there are two vehicles approaching. 3 blocks out. At their rate of speed they'll be here in less than 1 minute. They're approaching from the west so there's a 90% chance that they'll try to enter the building from the underground parking."

"Ok. Put it up on my HUD. Let me know if the vehicles are armored. And get me a direct line to Clint." He flicked his wrist and started swinging toward the building.

"What's up kid." Clint's voice echoed in his ear.

"There are two vehicles approaching from the west. Karen thinks they'll probably enter from the underground parking. I'll take care of them but I want to let them get into the deck first so I can just keep them there." Peter landed on one of the support beams in the parking area.

"Ok. Need help?"

"No, just get ready if they end up at the front door instead." Peter knew he was taking a risk but his gut told him it was the right move.

Two SUVs entered the underground parking. "Windows are bulletproof and body of the vehicles are armor plating." Karen confirmed in his ear. Peter flicked both wrists and fired a series of web grenades at the doors, effectively sealing them. Firing another volley he sealed up the rear hatches and the sun roofs. Landing on the hood of one of them he looked at the four men trapped inside their vehicle. They immediately started firing automatic weapons at the windshield. "Yeah, that's not going to work." It dawned on him that they could still move the vehicles. "Karen, what do we have to stop the engines?" He could feel the engine rev beneath him.

"Taser webs. Should disrupt the electrical." Firing straight down he hit the hood he had been standing on with a taser web and followed it with another shot at the other hood. Triggering the waldoes he punctured the front tires on both vehicles. Both vehicles sufficiently disabled, he stepped back and fired another volley of web grenades at the doors to make sure they held. Stepping back further he looked at the two vehicles. They seemed sealed up. And the people inside seemed really mad. He heard repulsors behind him and he turned around to see Iron Man and Black Widow headed into the deck.

Natasha saw the vehicles and started laughing. Waking up to the front he looked into the windshield. Gunfire erupted again which only prompted Natasha to wave at them.

"Kid, you ok?" Tony walked over and stood in front of Peter. FRIDAY had been monitoring Peter throughout the operation so he knew he wasn't hurt.

Peter gave him a thumbs up. "I'm good."

Natasha looked over at them. "SHIELD will be her shortly for clean up. Quinjet will be on the roof in 2 minutes. I'll keep our friends company until Fury gets here."

Tony looked at Peter. "Want a ride?"

Peter shook his head. "I'll climb."

Tony waited for Peter to exit the deck and start scampering up the side of the building before taking off for the roof. The team was standing along the edges, out of the way. The Quinjet landed and lowered the ramp. Peter flipped over the side to land next to Clint as Tony landed next to him.

Steve walked over to Peter. "You good?"

"Yes sir." Peter looked around at everyone. No one looked overly hurt. Karen had asked FRIDAY about Tony so Peter knew he just had a couple bruises.

Steve smiled. "Good. I'm going to go check out your handiwork. Natasha is still laughing." He looked over at Clint. "Can you come back and pick us up after you drop everyone at the compound?"

Clint nodded. "Seeing as how the kid got all the action I might as well do something useful." He walked toward the ramp to take over for FRIDAY. It was helpful when an AI could fly for you but it was always better to have a human pilot in the cockpit.

The rest of the team walked up the ramp. Tony and Peter filed in at the end. Once on board Tony pulled Peter to the back away from everyone else. Triggering his mask to retract he watched Peter do the same. He studied Peter's face for any sign of an issue. "You're sure you're ok. No broken bones, no bruises?"

Peter nodded. "I'm good. Never even had to duck a punch."

Tony reached over and scruffed Peter's hair. "You did good Pete."

* * *

The ride back on the Quinjet was incredibly fast. What was a 45 minute drive normally was more like a 10 minute flight. Everyone unloaded and headed for their respective quarters. Clint took off to pick up Natasha and Steve. Tony steered Peter to the lab, Peter hadn't stopped talking since they got off the Quinjet. They really hadn't come up with a good place to store the Iron Spider so they just kept it in the lab. They kept playing around with a containment vessel but hadn't settled on anything that worked the way they wanted it to. Tony's armor retracted into the arc reactor and Iron Spider safely tucked away, Tony and Peter got back into the elevator. Peter stopped mid-sentence when he realized they weren't headed to their floor. "Where are we going."

"Post mission debrief." Tony smiled at Peter's groan. "Don't worry, it's not what you think." The elevator doors opened on the main common area. The common area on the floor where the rest of the Avengers now had rooms. The floor that had been all but vacant until this weekend. Peter and Tony stepped out of the elevator and were immediately pulled into the main room. Rhodey handed a bottle of water to Tony and a Gatorade to Peter. Picking his beer back up, Rhodey walked with them over to the sofas. Sam and Bucky both had a beer in their hands and were rehashing part of the operation. Bucky slid over and made room for Peter. Sitting down Peter realized very quickly that celebrating after an Avenger victory was vastly different than celebrating after an academic decathlon victory, which was really the closest thing he had to compare. It was not close at all. Bucky and Sam made fun of each other. Tony and Rhodey were comparing notes on how the suits performed. Wanda was giving Vision a play by play of what she had done and seen while they were separated. Most of them had an adult beverage in their hands. It seems like besides him, Tony and Vision were the only two not drinking. He felt movement behind him and Natasha wrapped her arms around his and Bucky's shoulders and ducked her head between them. "Fury asked that if Spider-Man is going to continue to leave webs all over sites SHIELD has to clean up, if he could please give him something that will dissolve them faster." She glanced over at Tony. "Those were not his exact words. I cleaned them up a little."

Peter smiled. "I think I can come up with something."

Steve walked around the sofa and settled into the chair on the other side. "Everyone did a great job tonight. That may have been one of our most successful missions. Fury has a lot of intel to sift through."

Clint, perched on the back of one of the other sofas looked at Peter and Natasha. "I want to know what the kid did to the cars that you found so entertaining."

"He webbed the doors shut. They looked like cocoons. Windshields were bulletproof and the cars were armor plated so they couldn't break their way off." Natasha pushed herself off the back of the sofa. "Fury is still waiting for the webs to dissolve. Meanwhile, the two vehicles are surrounded by SHIELD agents. They think that one group completely exhausted their rounds trying to get through the windshield. Easiest capture SHIELD will probably ever have."

Tony and Steve ended the party around 1am by reminding everyone that the actual mission debrief was at 8am sharp.

* * *

Peter slid into a chair in the command center. Tony appeared a few minutes later and placed two donuts in front of him and steel mug. Peering inside, Peter saw he had given him a glass of milk. Tony sat his own mug down which Peter knew contained a large amount of coffee. They were by no means the first to arrive but just about everyone else was still making their way in. Steve and Natasha looked like they had been up for hours already. Peter realized they probably had been when information started popping up on the screens again.

"SHIELD performed a similar raid on a west coast facility simultaneous with ours. Ours was a little more efficient but both were successful. Fury is actively looking for additional facilities within the US. If they come across any, we will more than likely get pulled into those raids." Steve paused and looked around the room. "Supplies in both facilities have been destroyed, although the analysis is that a large amount has already been distributed. SHIELD is still working on how Hydra was planning on tracing people who have reactions. They're hoping some of the data they recovered from both facilities will shed some light on that."

Wanda sat forward, "Are we really ok with SHIELD having access to these people? They've proven that they can be infiltrated."

Peter turned his head when Tony spoke up. "I might have another option. I'll let you know if I get anywhere with it."

Steve nodded and Peter had the distinct impression that Steve knew what Tony was talking about. Sam put his coffee down. "What about outside the U.S."

"They've identified one facility in London. Fury is working out the logistics but we will probably be making the trip sometime this week. They don't think Security Services can handle the operation by themselves considering how much resistance the west coast team faced."

Natasha stepped beside Steve. "Video feeds have been uploaded. Review and be ready to provide comments." She paused and looked directly at Sam. "Constructive comments...at this afternoon's training."

Steve spoke up again, "Oh, and if anyone is curious on the standings of number of enemy combatants incapacitated - Natasha had the most with 10." He paused, then added "Second place, Peter with 8." Laughter erupted from the table with a lot of "Way to show off on your first outing" and "welcome to the team".

Peter sat back with a grin on his face. People started filing out, most clapping him on the back on the way out. Natasha, Steve, and Tony were the only ones remaining.

Natasha sat on the table next to Peter. "We thought we'd walk you through all of the video feeds, yours included, so you could get a feel for what the rest of us were doing. Tony said he's done this with you on training exercises."

Peter nodded. He hated reviewing feeds. He understood why they did it, but it always left him feeling like he hadn't been good enough. "When?"

"Preferably today. You go back to the city tonight, right?" Steve stepped next to Natasha. "What's your schedule the rest of the week? Having you on containment worked even better than anticipated." He glanced over at Tony. "If you're both ok with it, I'd like you to be in London. I know we're kind of pushing the envelope on taking you across international borders but one of the stipulations on the Accords is solely focused on making sure fights don't spill out into the street."

Peter looked up at Steve. "You'd bring me to London? That would be awesome!"

"Or, how about we talk about it and figure out if it's something we think your aunt will be okay with? And, he's out of school on Wednesday for conferences. We can go through feeds before lunch." Tony settled back in his chair waiting to see if Steve or Natasha would push back.

"Sounds good. I'll schedule a training session for early afternoon. That way you can get some training in before you head back." Natasha pushed off the table, ruffling Peter's hair as she walked out of the room.


	31. Chapter 31 - School Pick Up

Convincing May had been a monumental task. Tony had even started questioning himself as to whether or not taking Peter to London was a good idea. Ultimately it was Peter who had delivered the coup de grace to May's already crumbling resolve. He reminded her that he was much better off as part of a team than he was operating solo and that he now had nine superhero's backing him up. Which wasn't much of an exaggeration. Tony realized when Natasha volunteered to pick Peter up at school that the kid had her completely won over. He got the feeling that there wasn't much Natasha wouldn't do for the kid. It left him with an odd feeling. He had never been one to share so it somewhat bothered him that he was now having to split time with the rest of the team. He kept reminding himself that the entire point of bringing the team back had been so that Peter would have more people in his life to help him navigate being a superhero. He just hadn't been ready for the affect it would have on him. Tony missed having Peter to himself.

* * *

Natasha leaned against the side of her car and watched kids pour out the front door of Peter's school. She caught sight of Peter walking down the steps flanked by a boy that she thought was probably his friend Ned and a girl that she was absolutely sure was MJ. She chuckled to herself when she saw Peter grimace when he saw her. Ned on the other hand completely froze. MJ just looked curious. And determined. She was pulling Peter and Ned over to Natasha's car. The little bit that Peter had talked about MJ, Natasha was pretty sure that she'd like her. The fact that MJ knew who she was and still walked full steam spoke volumes.

The trio reached the car and Peter hissed, "Nat, what are you doing?"

"I'm picking you up from school. Tony had a meeting that he couldn't reschedule." Natasha gave Peter an innocent smile.

"No...what are you doing out of the car? People will see you." Peter's voice had a tone of borderline panic.

MJ stared at Peter with a 'you're an idiot' look. Turning back to Natasha she sized her up, then extended her hand. "I'm MJ."

Natasha shook MJ's hand. "MJ, it's nice to meet you. Peter has talked about you. Medical webs were a genius idea." Natasha turned and looked at Ned who stammered out a whispered, "You're Black Widow."

Natasha smiled. "Or you can just call me Natasha or Nat." Aware that the group was getting stares from the rest of the student body, Natasha was in no hurry to move. Peter, however, wanted in the car as quickly as possible.

"Natasha, move."

Natasha smiled. "Peter, absolutely no one knows who I am. The more you freak out the more attention you draw."

MJ shrugged. "She's right. No one is actually watching her. They're watching you."

Peter glanced over at MJ. "You're not helping."

MJ shrugged. "Natasha, it was nice to meet you." She leaned over and kissed Peter on the cheek. "Be careful." She whispered in his ear before she grabbed Ned's arm and pulled him away.

"I like her." Natasha pushed herself off her car and walked around to the drivers side. Peter was inside with the door securely closed before she had even opened her door. Sliding in she adjusted her sunglasses and fastened her seat belt.

"What the hell was that?" Peter twisted in the seat to look at her. "How am I supposed to keep Spider-Man a secret if Black Widow shows up at my school?"

Natasha pulled away from the curb. "I can guaranty that no one knows who I am. Consider this a lesson in flying under the radar. If you act like you're supposed to be there and that's there's nothing out of the ordinary no one pays attention."

Peter let out a growl under his breath which just made Natasha smile. "Where is Mr. Stark anyway?" The 'he doesn't do this' was emphatically implied.

"Tony and Steve are meeting with the non-SHIELD option for the newly created mutants." She glanced down at his backpack. "Do you have homework?"

"Yes, Physics and History. Physics won't be a problem, History might be." Peter pulled his Physics binder out and flipped to a page and started writing.

"What do you have to do in History?" Natasha glanced down at his paper. She understood Physics but it wasn't her favorite subject. She knew Peter wouldn't have a problem finishing it.

"Five page paper on a battle from World War II."

Natasha laughed. "You can do it on the flight over. Bucky and Steve can give you details you won't find in a book."

Peter grinned. It was easy to forget that he knew two people who were active participants in World War II.

* * *

Natasha pulled into the front drive way. "Mission briefing in 30 minutes. I'm going to stop by the hanger and make sure the Quinjet is ready."

Peter opened the car door and saw Tony, Steve, and a man in a wheelchair coming out the front doors. Getting out, he leaned his head back down. "That's the guy they were meeting with about the mutant situation?"

Natasha looked over at the man who was stopped outside a town car. It had been adapted to allow his chair to roll in without assistance. She watched him shake Tony and Steve's hands before the door shut and it drove away. "I think so, but I don't know who he is." She looked over at Peter. "See you in 30 minutes." Peter shut the door and waited for her to pull off before walking over to Tony. Steve waved as he walked back into the building.

"How much homework do you have?" Tony asked, glancing at his backpack.

"Physics and History." Peter smirked, "I did some of the physics on the ride up. Natasha suggested I work on history on the flight over." He continued when Tony looked at him questioningly. "Because it's on World War II and thought I could probably get some help." Peter grinned when Tony laughed.

"Oh, they're going to love that." Tony grabbed Peter's shoulder as he herded him through the front doors. "The plan is to take off in about 2 hours and get there in time for the mission. We'll do our thing and leave right after. So no sightseeing."


	32. Chapter 32 - London Calling

"He could do the incursion into Munich."

Steve shook his head. "Part of that is still classified."

"How is that still classified. It's been, what, almost 80 years? At some point the intelligence is no longer viable." Frustration bubbled in Bucky's voice.

"I don't think it's the intel on that one. It's more the incredibly disturbing science experiment. How about that one in the French country side?" Steve countered.

Peter looked over at Mr. Stark with a resigned look on his face. At the rate they were going his history report was never going to get done. They were already an hour into the flight and they'd yet to settle on a battle.

Bucky shook his head. "That one had the, well, you know. I don't think it's appropriate."

Tony finally took pity on Peter. "Do the Allied Rescue. It's a good story and all of it was used as PR during the war. Nothing classified. Nothing inappropriate."

Steve looked at Bucky and shrugged. "Ok, what do you need to know?"

Relief ran through Peter. He spent the next two hours firing off questions and typing on a tablet. By the time they were an hour out he had at least the outline for his paper. He could feel the Quinjet start to descend so he stuffed everything back into his backpack.

They had reviewed the plan both prior to leaving as well as right before landing. Like before, Clint and Peter were on the outside with the sole job of containment. Keeping everyone from leaving and keeping more from coming in. The incursion teams were similar to the plan from Queens with the addition of local assistance, although the target building was in a more densely populated area so they couldn't make quite as much noise has they had in Queens.

Peter activated the Iron Spider as the ramp let down. Following the team down the ramp, they were taken to a command center that had been set up near the location. Peter and Clint had already decided on their locations. Both retreated to their positions ahead of the other three incursion teams.

"Hey, Kid? Can you see the Underground entrance from where you are?" Clint's voice broke the silence as Peter looked down on the street below.

"That's their version of the subway, right?" He paused while he scanned the unfamiliar street. "Yeah, it's a half a block to the west."

"Ok, do you see a group of four men?"

Peter zoomed in on the groups below. "Tall one with a black jacket in the front?"

"That's them. Can Karen scan them? Something seems off."

Karen piped into Peter's ear. "If you can get closer I can try to scan for weapons or explosives."

"Hang on, I've got to get closer." Peter flicked his wrist and shot a web to the closest building. Staying in the shadows he worked his way closer to the Underground entrance and stuck himself to the side of a building. "Karen? Anything?" He could tell from the com chatter that the breach into the warehouse had started. Tapping the Spider Drone on his chest he released it and set it high enough to watch the area for additional support arriving or Hydra agents trying to escape. Karen finished her scans as the four individuals entered the Underground entrance.

"Peter, all four are carrying weapons. Facial recognition has a partial match to a known Hydra agent."

"Clint...". Peter shifted his focus back to the four men disappearing through the entrance.

"I'm on my way. Do not go in by yourself."

Fighting the urge to tell Clint he didn't need a babysitter he moved closer to the entrance. From the new angle he could still see the men inside. Com chatter from the others and knew they were making their way into the lower levels of the building, which was not the original plan. The intel they had received from the local authorities was that the labs and most of the resistance was on the main levels of the building. He glanced over at the building the Avengers were in the process of working their way through then back at the Underground entrance. "Karen, can you access building plans."

"Searching. What are you specifically looking for Peter?"

"An entrance into the building from the underground." Peter glanced down as he felt Clint land on the sidewalk below. Peter did not understand how Clint moved around like he did. Dropping down he landed beside him as Karen started reporting her findings.

"The building is too old to have plans I can access but the Underground plans show that the access tunnels are adjacent to where a basement might be for the building. There is a strong probability that there is an access point into the building."

Clint tapped his earpiece to broadcast to the rest of the team as he started moving toward the Underground entrance. "We're following 4 armed targets into the Underground. They may have access into the building."

Peter heard Steve's reply of "Understood" quickly followed up by Mr. Stark, "When you say 'we', I'm assuming you mean Underoos is with you?"

Clint glanced over at Peter and smiled, "Affirmative". Tapping his earpiece again to turn it off he paused and studied the flow of people coming in and out. "Any ideas how to get in without causing a scene?"

Schematics of the Underground popped up on Peter's HUD. "There's a service hatch into the access tunnels but one of us needs to keep an eye on our friends."

"Well you're bright red, blue, and gold and I have a bow. Both of us kind of stand out."

"No one ever looks up. I'll follow them in, you head to the service hatch." Peter climbed up the wall and made his way to the entrance. Getting through the opening was the trickiest part but he was able to find a shadowy corner.

"What are you doing?"

Peter could tell that Mr. Stark had opened a direct channel to him. "I'm following the bad guys. What are you doing." Peter was pretty sure the sarcasm wouldn't be appreciated.

Tony chose to ignore the comment. "You and Clint split up."

"It made sense." Peter skirted the main area and stayed in the alcoves of the loading area. The four men were walking along the edge. Karen displayed the appropriate schematics across Peter's HUD. There was a door to the maintenance tunnel and the men seemed to be headed straight for it. One of them reached up and touched an earpiece in their ear. Peter heard gunfire through the audio connection with Mr. Stark. "Are you being shot at?" He heard a repulsor fire in the background.

"Yes. Pete, do not follow them into an enclosed area without backup."

Peter heard the audio flip back to the team channel and heard the sound of weapons fire again, this time louder since it wasn't muted by the Iron Man suit. Karen had added identification dots on his HUD. Clint was entering the tunnel from the street. The rest of the team was identified at a higher elevation. The men opened the door and slipped through it. Peter caught the door with a web before it closed. "Clint, headed your way." Scampering over to the door he lowered himself enough to get through the door then retreated to the ceiling again. An outline illuminated on the building scan, which was now limited to the tunnel they were in and the lower levels of the warehouse next door. The outline showed an access door about halfway between Clint and Peter. Their targets were most definitely headed towards the door. Knowing Karen could mute his voice so it wouldn't be heard outside of the mask he opened a channel to Clint. "Door right hand side."

He heard two clicks in his ear so he knew Clint had heard him. He reverted back to Karen. "Can you show me the targets in the warehouse?"

"No. The building walls are shielded and my sensors can't penetrate them to perform a scan. I'm only able to pick up the other Avengers because of their transponders."

Before he could flip back to Clint to find out what the plan was the door opened from the warehouse side. Peter could see three more men through the door. Behind him he could hear the access door open.

"What are you doing in here? This is a restricted area." A police officer had opened the door and entered the passageway shining a light through the tunnel.

The four men turned and two of them fired down the tunnel at the police officer. Peter flipped off the ceiling and landed between the targets and the police officer, firing webs at two of them. He felt a barrage of bullets hit his chest and shoulder. He knew none of them had penetrated the armor but it still was enough force to knock him back. He could hear the whiz of arrows hitting targets and vaguely thought to himself that apparently this was the plan. Firing more webs he grabbed the weapons out of two more targets hands and webbed them to the ceiling. Dots blipped out on his HUD as they were taken off threat status by either himself or Clint. He felt another bullet his his shoulder and turned around. "I'm one of the good guys! Stop shooting me!" He fired a web and grabbed the police officers gun and webbed it to the side. Turning his attention back to the fight he fired web grenades wrapping up another target. Focusing on the red targets, Peter kept firing web grenades and yanking weapons out of people hands until all of the dots on his HUD were eliminated. There had been more than 3 targets on the other side of the door.

"Clear?" Clint was standing in tunnel opposite Peter. Cocooned lumps as well as ones with arrows sticking out of them littered the floor.

Peter checked the HUD again. He could see the dots representing the rest of the team moving around on the floor above. All of the dots in his and Clint's level had been neutralized. "Clear."

He could hear the rest of the team in the distance and realized it wasn't coming through his com. Checking the HUD he saw half of the dots moving down. A few moments later half of the team appeared in the basement of the warehouse. Clint and Peter stepped through the door and over some of the cocoons and met them in the middle of the room.

Tony retracted his helmet and mask. "Are those bullets?"

Peter looked down at his chest. Most of the bullets had been deflected by the armor but two of them were embedded. Peter pulled them out, "Yes. I think there's one in my shoulder too." He twisted around trying to feel for the bullet. He could hear Mr. Stark's exasperated sigh and felt him push gently on his shoulder to twist him around.

"There's two." Tony pulled out one of them and inspected it. "You're going to be bruised."

Steve walked over to the duo. "Tony, you, Vision, and Wanda head back to the Quinjet." He looked over at Natasha who had just entered the room. "We'll finish up here."

Tony activated the helmet and mask again. "Make sure you tell them they have a leak."

* * *

As soon as they were back on the Quinjet, Peter and Tony retracted the suits. "FRIDAY, scan Peter for broken bones."

Peter probably could have saved FRIDAY the effort. He definitely thought he had at least two cracked ribs and something was going on with his shoulder. They hadn't bothered him until they were about halfway to the Quinjet.

"Peter has several cracked ribs and a fracture in his scapula."

Tony frowned. The ribs didn't worry him. As long as they weren't in danger of puncturing a lung they'd probably be fine by morning. The shoulder was a problem. Peter put an incredible amount of strain on his shoulders every time he swung anywhere. "FRIDAY, suggestions for the shoulder?"

"Immobilize until we reach the compound so the doctors can make sure there isn't additional damage to the muscles."

Tony reached over to the cabinet on the wall and rummaged around until he found a sling. "FRIDAY, let Dr. Cho know. Tell her if she needs to bring someone in she has approval."

Peter looked at the sling. "I don't think it needs to be immobilized." Usually he just went to sleep and woke up healed. A sling was overkill.

Tony fastened the sling around Peter and gently slid his arm into the sling. "It does need to be immobilized. You use your shoulders more than any other part of your body except maybe your brain. So, unless you're telling me you're planning on giving up swinging around New York...you're in a sling until a doctor looks at it."

Peter looked at his arm and realized that Mr. Stark had tightened the sling so tight he couldn't move it. "How am I supposed to finish my report like this?"

Vision turned around from the cockpit. He had been going through preflight with Wanda. "Peter, do you have a copy of another paper you have written?"

Peter nodded. With one hand he tried to pull his phone out of his backpack. Tony finally took the backpack from him, retrieved the phone and unlocked it. Opening his school apps he pulled a paper from the history folder and handed it to Vision. He looked back at Peter. "IV. Now."


	33. Chapter 33 - Sling Confinement

Peter was asleep before they left British airspace. Tony swapped his IV out when the first one finished. The team was in various post mission positions. Clint, Natasha, and Steve were filling out paperwork. Vision had completed Peter's paper and was now talking to Wanda. Sam and Rhodey were in the cockpit. Barnes was on the floor sitting against the bulkhead. Tony was sitting in a seat at the head of the cot Peter was stretched out on, checking the IV periodically.

"Is he ok?" Bucky asked quietly.

"The impact of the bullets fractured some ribs and his scapula. Sleep is how he heals." Tony checked the IV and glanced back over at Barnes, who looked genuinely concerned.

"The suit doesn't protect him from bullets?"

"In order for it to be flexible enough for him to move the way he does, it has to be fairly thin. It'll deflect most bullets but a couple of the shots were from less than three feet and were armor piercing rounds." Tony studied Barnes. He had noticed aver the last week that Peter and Barnes had become almost friends. Maybe friends wasn't quite the right word. Older brother? Tony wasn't sure but it left him feeling a little unsettled. It was becoming impossible to hold a grudge against Barnes because Peter liked him so much.

"Vibranium would help disperse the energy from the impact." Bucky shifted against the bulkhead. "T'Challa uses it in his suit. His sister would probably give you some if she knew it was for Spider-Man. She's seen him on the internet."

Tony had thought about Vibranium but he hadn't been able to get it to work with existing metals. And he definitely didn't have access to enough to make a full suit. It was worth exploring. Peter shifted under that hand that Tony had unconsciously placed on his chest. Tony could also feel the Quinjet start to descend. Time to wake the Spiderling.

* * *

Peter grumbled his way to MedBay. He still didn't understand why he couldn't just go to his room and go to sleep. He was confident that he would be fine in the morning. Dr. Cho and Mr. Stark were not.

Dr. Cho pulled out a device and imaged the soft tissue in Peter's shoulder. Tony was immensely glad they had the technology and that Peter wasn't faced with dealing with an MRI machine. He wasn't sure how the kid would react to an enclosed space.

"You've definitely got tears in the muscle tissues." She applied a thick bandage to Peter's shoulder, then refit the sling.

Peter wasn't sure how it was possible but his arm was even more immobilized than before. He could tell that the bandage wasn't a normal bandage. "What's the bandage for?"

"It's a cortisone mixture. It'll help with the muscle repair. The best thing for you is to let your body heal as quickly as possible. I don't think you need another IV. Maybe eat something and go to sleep. We'll re-evaluate when you wake up." Dr. Cho looked over at Tony, anticipating his question. "Cortisone should be fine for Spiders but have FRIDAY get me if anything feels off."

Tony steered Peter to the elevator and up to their floor. He was incredibly glad that Pepper was on the west coast. It was 4am and he was bringing Peter home in a sling. She would have killed him. "What do you want to eat?" Peter glared at him with a look that Tony knew meant 'How in the hell am I supposed to eat like this' without him opening his mouth. Tony grabbed a protein bar out of the cabinet and opened it before handing it to the kid.

Peter ate the bar, as well as the second one that was handed to him. "Can I go to bed now?" He deposited the wrapper in the trash can and turned around and looked at Mr. Stark.

"Do you need help?" Tony knew the answer was going to be no and that Peter would more than likely just kick off his shoes and fall asleep in his clothes.

Peter shook his head and turned to retreat to his bedroom. He paused and looked back, "Sorry I'm being a jerk. I'm just tired."

Tony smiled. "I'm used to hurt and tired Spider-Man now. I'll see you when you wake up."

* * *

Peter tried stretching as he slowly returned to the land of the living only to get an immediate reminder that his arm wasn't movable. Muttering unintelligible expletives, he pushed himself up with his free hand and swung his feet off the side of the bed. "FRIDAY, what time is it?"

"It is 1:30pm."

Peter groaned and stood up. His ribs felt better. He couldn't tell about his shoulder because he couldn't move it. Nor could he get the sling off by himself. After briefly attempting to not look like he had just rolled out of bed he gave up and headed for the kitchen. He wanted to take a shower and he wanted the stupid sling off.

Tony looked up and fought back a laugh. Peter looked like he was in an even worse mood than he was when they got back from London. He made a mental note that even a halfway out of commission spider made for a grumpy teenager.

"Can you take this off?" Peter ground the words out as he picked up the donut Mr. Stark had put in front of him. His left hand wasn't entirely useless. He was actually somewhat ambidextrous but the sling just put him off balance. He bit into the donut trying not to get crumbs everywhere.

"I'll take it off but Dr. Cho has to look at your shoulder before you do anything else."

Peter looked hopeful that his captivity was coming to an end. He shoved the rest of the donut in his mouth and turned so Mr. Stark could release him from his imprisonment.

"FRIDAY, ask Dr. Cho if she can look at Peter up here."

Peter glanced over at Mr. Stark as his arm was released. He was thrilled he didn't have to walk through the compound in his current state. He knew the unruly curls made him look younger than he actually was and it was the last thing he felt like dealing with. Trying to get them under control with one hand was impossible.

Tony slid the box of donuts in front of Peter and watched him demolish half of them before Dr. Cho stepped off the elevator.

"Peter, you should know you're in a very small group of people that I make house calls for." Dr. Cho set a bag on the counter and pulled out the same device she had used earlier. Removing the bandage she inspected the skin before starting to image his shoulder. "Ok, the muscle looks like it's healing fine. The bone is almost healed too." She looked at Peter's face that was literally begging her to skip the sling. "You can stay out of the sling for the rest of today but you have to come see me before you go back to the city. If it doesn't look like it's making progress you're back in the sling."

Relief spread across Peter's face. He was free of the sling. "It'll be fine. I'll take it easy the rest of the day."

Dr. Cho scrutinized him. "I'm writing you an excuse for PE the rest of the week and, here's the part you're not going to like...no Spider-Man until the weekend."

Peter's face fell slightly. He was out of the sling but he was also grounded from Spider-Man. "If it's healed by the time I go back to the city can I go out earlier than Saturday?"

Dr. Cho held her ground...sort of. "Let's see how it looks tonight."

* * *

Despite Mr. Stark's irrational fear that Peter would hurt his shoulder, Peter managed to shower and feel somewhat human without dying or at least maiming himself. He walked back out to the common area somewhat expecting Mr. Stark to still be there. "FRIDAY, where is Mr. Stark?"

"Boss is in his office."

Peter frowned to himself. He knew he had been pretty miserable to be around but he had been kind of hoping that Mr. Stark would be available. As much as he loved hanging out with the Avengers he really missed just hanging out with Mr. Stark.

"Peter, I believe Boss would not be opposed to you joining him in his office. I think he's doing, as you have both started calling it 'adult homework'"

Peter grinned and headed down the hall towards Mr. Stark's office. The door was open so he hesitantly walked through it and paused.

Tony heard Peter push the door open and smiled to himself, glancing up he nodded his head towards the chair he had pulled up to the other side of his desk. He watched Peter sink into the chair and pick up the first proposal from the stack that was neatly stacked in front of him.

* * *

Rhodey walked down the hall toward Tony's office. He paused in the hallway when he heard the distinct sound of laughter and a lot of tech talk. He smiled and debated walking away but Steve would kill him if he didn't return with Tony and Peter. They had put off the debriefing until now because quite honestly none of them enjoyed staying up all night. Speaking for himself, he was just too damn old to pull all-nighters. He rapped his knuckles on the frame of the door and drew the attention of Peter and Tony. "Debrief in fifteen. FRIDAY ordered take out for dinner. Steve thought we'd eat while we go through it."

Tony nodded, "We'll be down in a few minutes." Rhodey nodded and retreated back down the hall. "Debrief should only take an hour or so, then we'll stop by and see Dr. Cho. Once we find out how your shoulder is, I'll drive you back to the city."

"My shoulder feels fine. I think you're overreacting." Peter divided his papers between the ones he finished and the ones he hadn't and stood up.

"Maybe. Look, it's supposed to rain the next couple days anyway. You hate swinging in bad weather." Tony did not add that he also didn't like the idea of Peter swinging in bad weather because he figured the kid would have focused on that and not the diversion he was offering. "Take MJ to the movies Friday night. Be a teenager for a change."


	34. Chapter 34 - Overload

Peter, MJ, and Ned sat at the end of one of the bleachers. Coach Wilson was explaining the finer points of Lacrosse. Peter was fairly certain that someone would get hit over the head with a stick before the end of class.

Ned landed over and whispered, "You couldn't talk Dr. Cho into extending your excuse for PE?"

"I'm not going to ask her to lie about an injury. Besides, my shoulder is fine." Peter shifted on the bleacher to avoid Flash's foot that was currently being driven into his lower back.

MJ turned around and gave Flash a look that apparently scared him because Peter heard him gulp and the foot disappeared from his back. "If we're going to be forced to play this game we should play it the way the Native Americans played it. It lasted for days and more often than not resulted in death or at least maiming. They saw it as a way to toughen up their warriors."

"Yeah, because we need to give Flash and his friends an excuse to...". Peter paused mid-sentence. His spidey sense fired on all cylinders driving all of his other senses to high alert. A moment later they heard a loud bang come from the direction of the chemistry lab. Peter shoved Ned off the end of the bleacher and pulled MJ as he leapt off the side behind Ned. Pushing them both behind him and securely underneath the bleachers he looked around for the threat. Everyone else in their class had either dove off the bleachers or had flattened out on the floor. Peter listened for anything that would tell him what the threat was and where it was coming from. He heard the fire suppression system go off in the chem lab and then the smell hit him. He ducked his face into his shirt and turned to look at MJ and Ned. Apparently the smell hadn't reached them yet because MJ had a look of confusion on her face.

Ned tapped his arm, "As cool as those are, you probably don't need anyone to see them."

Peter glanced down and saw that both web shooters had formed from their nanobot housing. He glanced back to the main gym and saw the door open and flood of students and teachers enter. Then the smell hit everyone.

Principal Morita's voice echoed from the intercom. "There has been an accident in the chemistry lab. There is no danger but all students and faculty should report to the gym for early dismissal."

Peter retracted the web-shooters and covered his nose with his sleeve. "Ugh, what is that, Thiol?"

"Or, what the rest of us would call sulfur." MJ glanced around at the students filing into the gym and then back at Peter. "The smell isn't that bad. The chem lab is up two floors."

Peter pulled his shirt further over his nose and mouth. "Senses...". His head was starting to pound and it was way too bright in the gym.

Principal Morita walked into the gym with a bull horn and announced to the students and faculty. "Your parents are in the process of being contacted and will be arriving to pick you up shortly."

After a while, parents started walking into the gym. Ned's name was called over the loudspeaker and the trio saw Mrs. Leeds standing by the door. Ned turned to MJ and Peter. "Sorry guys, wish I could take you with me."

MJ and Peter watched Ned leave and retreated backwards. The gym was loud and chaotic. MJ turned around, expecting Peter to be next to her but found him crouched on the floor, his shirt completely over his head. MJ crouched down and reached over to touch his shoulder but he flinched back. "Ok, you need to get out of here." Ignoring the flinch, she pulled him up and pushed him toward the locker rooms. There was a supply room between the two rooms that she knew had an exit into the hallway. Once out of the gym she guided Peter to a classroom the furthest away from the chemistry lab and the gym. Once inside, she looked at Peter who was still covering his head with his arms and shirt. "I don't know what to do."

Peter made his way over to a corner and sank against the wall. Even though the pressure of the wall made all of his nerve endings seem like they were on fire, the pressure helped. His head hurt so bad he couldn't think straight. It wasn't quite as bad as it had been right after he had been bitten but it was pretty close.

MJ followed him to the corner. "Peter, what do you need?"

Peter fumbled with the band on his watch. Finally getting it off he handed it to her. "Don't hit panic. He'll flip out." The words came out as a whisper but to Peter it sounded like he was screaming.

MJ took the watch and stared at it. The face had lit up when Peter had taken it off and a spider emblem flashed across the screen. It finally dawned on her what Peter wanted her to do. She had seen him work the watch enough that she knew Karen was always on. "Karen, call Tony Stark."

* * *

Tony walked into the classroom and crossed over to corner where Peter was huddled. MJ was sitting in front of him. He crouched next to her. "Pete, come on, we're getting out of here."

Peter moved his head in what he thought might have been something similar to a nod. Even that small movement made his nerve endings ignite. As much as he wanted away from the smell and the noise and the light, the thought of walking made him want to throw up.

"Come on, kid. Don't make me put the Iron Man suit on you." Tony thought through his options. He had parked where MJ had indicated so they didn't have far to go. "MJ, where are your backpacks?"

"Lockers."

"Can you get there and get back?" The 'without getting stopped' was implied. He was sure the chaos that was in front of the school was minor compared to what was happening in the gym. "Are your parents on the way?"

"I can get there and back. Both of them are working so I'm stuck until dismissal."

"Get both of your bags, I'll take you with me." He waited for MJ to nod and move toward the door. Looking back at Peter he worked on a plan to get Peter out without having to carry him. The suit wasn't a bad option but he was pretty sure Pete wouldn't be able to walk and firing the boot jets in the school might be a problem. "Here's what we're going to do. The door is 20 yards away. You've got 8 steps down and the car is there. Once you're in the car I'll get your mask on and it can block sound and light." He had a pretty good idea what had happened based on what MJ had told him. When his spidey sense triggered the rest of his senses heightened to what Tony had started calling his battle senses. He would have been able to smell the sulfur without them. With them, it would have been overwhelming. Add in the sound and overwhelmed was exactly what happened. They had tweaked the mask a couple times aver the last year to adjust for the sensory input and had it where Tony knew it would allow Peter to get his senses under control.

MJ opened the door and slid back into the classroom. Her backpack securely on her own back she had Peter's slung over her shoulder.

Tony took Peter's bag from MJ and pulled out the mask. Stuffing it in his pocket he zipped up the backpack and threw it over a shoulder. "MJ is going to take your right side, I'm going to take your left side." He nodded to MJ and they both pulled his arms up and around their shoulders, ignoring the grunts of pain. Tony was pretty sure they carried Peter most of the way to the car. Opening the door he slid into the back seat and pulled Peter with him. Grabbing the mask he worked it over Peter's head. "MJ, drivers seat. FRIDAY will drive but it'll freak people out if they don't see anyone in the drivers seat."

MJ got in, unsure of what to do. Apparently nothing because as soon as the door shut, the car pulled away from the curve.

"MJ, please fasten your seatbelt." FRIDAY reminded MJ who had twisted around in the seat to see how Peter was doing. The mask was on, the normally white eyes were completely black. Mr. Stark was gently adjusting Peter's head on his lap. Once convinced Peter was as comfortable as he could be, he looked at his watch, checking Peter's vitals. Only focused on Peter, he was oblivious to everything else around him. MJ turned back around and realized that her opinion of Tony Stark completely changed in that moment. She fastened her seatbelt. She had been working under the idea that Tony Stark was the self obsessed billionaire whose interest in Peter was limited to what Peter could do for him. She realized how wrong she had been.


	35. Chapter 35 - After Effects

Peter woke up in his familiar bed. It took him a moment to realize what FRIDAY had done to his room. It was completely black and there was zero ambient sound. Even with the Sleeping Baby Protocol he could pick up a few stray sounds and there was always a touch of light he could see. Right now there was nothing and it felt wonderful. His head didn't feel too terrible but his muscles ached. He had a vague memory of Mr. Stark coming to get him at school but beyond that there wasn't much. Sitting up, he tested the position to make sure his head wouldn't start pounding. "FRIDAY, lights up 5%." Light hit his eyes. Letting them adjust he looked around his room. He was in pajama pants and a t-shirt which meant that Mr. Stark had changed his clothes. Great. On one hand he was immensely grateful. His pajama pants were a lot more comfortable than jeans and the fabric didn't make his skin hurt like the jeans had earlier. On the other hand, Iron Man had changed his clothes. He grimaced at the thought as he looked over at his nightstand and saw a protein bar, bottle of gatorade, and a banana. Grabbing the banana he finished it in two bites and chased it with half of the Gatorade. Opening the protein bar he ate that in two bites too, then finished the Gatorade. "FRIDAY, what time is it?"

"8:15 am. You have been asleep for 20 hours and 19 minutes."

Peter frowned. He had slept for 20 hours. Straight. Shaking his head to clear the grogginess he headed for the bathroom. A hot shower was exactly what he wanted right now.

* * *

Peter walked down the hall shaking his still wet hair and froze when he heard voices. Not just any voices. Female voices. Specifically Pepper, Natasha, and MJ. Together. Talking. All of his worlds colliding in one terrifying moment. The only thing missing was May. He heard someone behind him, heard the heartbeat and knew it was Mr. Stark.

"How are you feeling?" Tony paused next to Peter trying to figure out why he had stopped in the hallway.

"Better." Peter stayed frozen in place.

"Ok, why are you in the hallway?" Tony was starting to get concerned. For someone who was constantly moving, Peter was currently unnaturally still. He heard Natasha's voice. "Good. They're up. They'll be happy to know you're awake and fully functioning." When Peter didn't move, Tony moved in front of him so he could see his eyes. He didn't think there would be many lingering effects but this was the first time he had seen Peter affected this badly. "Seriously kid, you're starting to worry me. You are fully functioning, right?"

Peter shifted his gaze and locked eyes with Mr. Stark. "Pepper, Natasha, and MJ are together."

Tony laughed when he realized what was wrong. "Why are you freaking out. Pepper and MJ have spent time together and you said MJ met Nat when she picked you up at school."

"I'm not freaking out. It's just that those three are quite possibly the most intimidating people I know. And they're together." Peter knew he wasn't freaking out. It was so much worse than that.

Tony grabbed his shoulder and steered him down the hall to the kitchen. "It's a good thing they all like you then."

Pepper stood up and walked over when she saw Peter. Scrutinizing his face she asked "How are you feeling?"

Peter gave a small smile. "Better, thanks." He looked over at the other two who were watching him. "I am. Really."

Natasha pushed herself off the counter top she was leaning on. "Good. Steve and Barnes have both dealt with sensory overload so if you need anyone to bounce coping ideas off of they're a good option."

Tony could have kissed Natasha. He knew from experience with Peter that he saw anything like what had happened as weakness on his part which was ridiculous. The look on Peter's face when Natasha made the simple statement that Steve and Barnes both had sensory issues was astonishing. Tony could have said the same thing and Peter would have doubted it. Tony filed it away for future use.

Peter sat down on the stool next to MJ. He glanced over at her and realized she was wearing one of his T-shirts and a pair of leggings that looked like they might be Natasha's. He leaned over and picked up a piece of her toast and took a bite. "Ok. Not that I'm not happy to see you but why are you here at 9am and not at school?"

MJ laughed, "They're still cleaning up after the accident in the Chemistry lab so no school today. When Mr. Stark found out my parents were working late yesterday and all of today Pepper called and asked if I could just stay up here. So...here I am."

Peter picked up a mug of hot chocolate that appeared in front of him and took a sip. He glanced up at Natasha and found her staring at him as if trying to figure out where a piece should go in a puzzle. "Is the rest of the team here?"

Natasha shook her head, "Steve, Barnes, Sam, Vision, and Wanda are out. Clint went home to visit his family." She was starting to understand that the idea that Peter didn't know what his girlfriend did at the Avenger compound for 20 hours while he was asleep was bothering him. At least that's what she thought it was. "MJ hung out with me most of yesterday. Then Pepper got home from the West Coast and we decided to keep her here overnight and today and the two of you could go back together tonight."

Peter glanced down as Mr. Stark put a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of him. He realized he was starving. Finishing the plate and knowing that it was going to be refilled he smiled at Mr. Stark. "Thanks Mr. Stark."

"Twenty hours without eating is way too long. But Dr. Cho thought you'd be better of sleeping." Tony slid a pan full of scrambled eggs on the plate.

"I thought Dr. Cho was in France all week?" He really hoped Mr. Stark hadn't dragged her back from a conference just for this. It was bad enough that Mr. Stark and Nat knew. Before his brain could continue down the path of how many people potentially knew, Mr. Stark caught his eye with a look that said he knew where his brain was headed.

"She's still in France. We just called her to make sure there wasn't anything else we needed to do." Tony leaned over on the counter and looked at Peter. He hated that Peter felt like he was an inconvenience. And that he didn't want anyone to see anything that he conceived as a weakness. It drove Tony crazy. He felt like they'd made progress but right now it felt like they were two steps back.

Peter stared down at his plate and took a bite. Relieved that Mr. Stark hadn't made Dr. Cho leave her conference he focused on his food. Mechanically finishing his plate he put the fork down. Before he could pickup everything to put it in the dishwasher, Mr. Stark grabbed it.

"Pepper and I have a conference call. Will you two be ok by yourselves?

Peter looked over at MJ who had picked up her own coffee mug and was following Mr. Stark into the kitchen. "We'll be fine."

"Do me a favor and take it easy. Watch a movie or show her around the compound. I think there are a few areas Natasha didn't show her yesterday." Tony caught Peter's eye and conveyed what he hoped Peter understood as the unspoken warning of don't do anything stupid.

Peter nodded and looked at MJ. "What do you want to do?"

"A movie sounds good. I hear that FRIDAY has access to just about everything."

Peter sank into the corner of the couch while MJ flipped through the movie options. Settling on one, she turned to look at Peter before starting it. "Why do you still call him Mr. Stark?"

Peter shrugged. He asked himself that same question repeatedly. The man had certainly made it clear that he wanted him to call him Tony but almost every time it came out as Mr. Stark. Deep down he knew why. He just didn't want to deal with it. "MJ, can we just watch the movie?"


	36. Chapter 36 - Visit

Peter sprinted the distance to the hidden door on the roof of the safe house. He hadn't planned on even coming to the safe house today but he also didn't bother checking the weather before he left. It was looking decidedly overcast and was definitely a little gusty. Rain had started falling about 30 seconds before he reached the roof so all in all he didn't get too wet. But, he was also on the other side of Queens from where he needed to be. He started running through the different options he had. He could change, take the subway, then change again. Yeah, that was going to suck.

He walked through the door into the common area, expecting an empty room. Instead, Bucky and Natasha were sitting on the floor, security camera equipment scattered in front of them.

"Hey kid." Bucky said, looking up from a camera assembly.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked, confusion apparent on his face.

"Upgrading the cameras. And adding some." Natasha leaned back looking at the equipment in front of her.

"Hey." Bucky stared at Peter. "You're sticky."

"Yeah...". Peter couldn't tell where Bucky was going with the comment.

Bucky looked over at Natasha. "He can put them up."

Natasha grinned. "You don't want me standing on your shoulders?"

"I would love to help, but I have to be somewhere." Peter backed away, he didn't have time to get roped into putting up cameras.

"Peter, it's raining. You hate swinging in the rain." Natasha pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, studying Peter. He normally jumped at the chance to help anyone out.

"Yeah, I know. Which is why I'm here. I'm going to have to change and take the subway across town."

"How long will it take you to do whatever it is that you need to do?" Bucky stood up and faced Peter.

Peter narrowed his eyes. "Two hours."

Bucky looked back down at Natasha. "I'll drive him. By the time he's done, you'll have them programmed and Sam and Steve will be here with the rest of the equipment."

Natasha looked at Bucky. She might be getting the worst part of the deal, but she'd let him get away with it for now. "Fine. Two hours."

Bucky grabbed his keys. "Let's go."

* * *

"Parker, where are we going?" Bucky was getting increasingly frustrated with Peter. He wouldn't just tell him where they were going.

"Just take the next left and pull into the parking deck." Peter pulled his mask down. Bucky's windows were tinted enough that he thought that the chance of someone seeing him was slim but they were almost there now.

Bucky growled at Peter but followed the directions. Karen apparently had access because she activated the gate arm to let them in. Pulling into a space, he looked over at his passenger. "This is a hospital."

"Yeah, I know." Peter opened the door and slid out. "Are you coming?"

Bucky sighed but got out of the truck and followed Peter into an elevator.

The elevator doors opened and Peter walked off, leaving Bucky to follow in his wake. A nurse walked over and hugged Peter...correction, Spider-Man. "I wasn't sure if you were going to make it because of the storm."

"I'm not going to miss this. These visits are the highlight of my week!" Remembering Bucky was standing next to him, he added. "This is my friend Bucky. This is Charlotte Hanson. She's a nurse."

Bucky tugged the sleeve down on his left arm before extending his right hand to shake the nurse's hand. "Otherwise known as his driver when it's raining."

Peter left the two by the elevator and headed towards a larger area. Bucky watched him flip into the larger room and heard a chorus of cheers. Charlotte looked over at Bucky, "He is so good with them. It may be the highlight of his week when he comes but these visits give these kids a moment where they're the center of a superhero's world. And it makes what they're going through easier."

Bucky stared down the hall towards the room Peter had disappeared into. This was the absolutely last thing he thought Peter would be doing on a Saturday morning. Strike that, it wasn't even a thought. But, now that he was here and listening to a bunch of kids cheering for Spider-Man, of course this is what the kid would do on a Saturday morning. He gave a half smile to Charlotte and walked down the hall towards Peter. Standing in the back of the room he watched Peter interact with kids in wheelchairs, hooked up to IVs, bandages covering various parts of their small bodies. Peter was so good with every single one of them. Talking to them. Not just smiling and performing but actually asking how they were doing and giving them words of encouragement. Bucky without a doubt completely understood what Stark meant when he said that Peter could be so much better than the rest of them. He had thought it was just the pride Stark felt for the kid. He would be the first to admit he didn't understand their relationship. Peter wasn't just an intern and Stark definitely wasn't just a mentor. If someone didn't know them it would be very easy to think that they were father and son. Lost in thought he almost missed the voice next to him.

"What up."

The voice belonged to a kid that Bucky guesses to be around 9 or 10. A kid that exuded an 'I'm going to kick your ass if you mess with me' attitude. A kid that was also missing the lower part of his arm. And it looked fairly recent. Bucky nodded. "What up yourself."

"So do you do flips too?"

Bucky laughed. "No. Spider-Man does enough flips for both of us." He turned to look at the kid and noticed his eyes dart toward the metal hand sticking out of his sleeve.

"Cool hand. Think they can make me one?"

Bucky smiled and pushed up his sleeve. "It's more than just a hand." The comment elicited a smile from the kid.

"How'd you lose it?"

"Fell from a train in the Alps. How'd you lose yours?"

"Car accident."

They fell into mutual silence until Bucky noticed the kid looking at him again. Bucky found himself unconsciously crouching next to the kid, getting more on his eye level.

"Do you still sometimes feel your arm?" The kid looked at Bucky, unsure if he should be asking the question.

"I lost it a long time ago, so I've had a long time to get used to it. But, yes, I still feel like it's there sometimes when I don't have the prosthetic on." Bucky sat down on the floor with his back against the wall and nodded for the kid to join him.

"Did people make fun of you because you didn't have an arm?"

Bucky pondered the question. He was 200% sure saying that the majority of the world feared him and that no, no one made fun of him was not going to be helpful. But, it had been a long time since he had dealt with a kid's anxiety over being different. "Some people will always make fun of other people because they're different. It sucks, but all you can do is remind yourself that your happiness isn't dependent on other people." He paused before continuing. "When I was your age, my best friend was this scrawny little kid that got picked on and beat up all the time. He never knew how to walk away from a fight. But he wasn't fighting them to make himself feel better or because they hurt his feelings. He did it because he didn't like to see anyone picked on and he knew if they were doing it to him, they were doing it to others too. I'm not saying to get into fights over it, but don't let people make you think you're different or less than them, just because of this." He pointed at the kid's arm. "Because you're not."

The kid smiled and looked back over at the group of kids surrounding Spider-Man watching him flip and walk on the ceiling.

* * *

Bucky was silent most of the drive back to the safe house. It wasn't until they pulled into the underground parking that he spoke. "How often do you do this?"

Peter shrugged. "When I'm in the city on the weekends. So maybe twice a month. Thanks for driving me. I know it's not how you wanted to spend your Saturday morning."

Bucky shook his head. "Actually, I was wondering if I could go back with you sometime."

Surprised, Peter looked at Bucky. "Really?"

"Yeah." Bucky parked in the space next to Sam's truck and looked at Peter. "I've done some horrible things." He put his hand up to stop Peter from interrupting. "I may have been forced into it but I remember all of it. This...this was something good. That kid I was talking to saw someone who was like him." He looked down at the metal hand gripping the wheel. "He saw that it wasn't the end of his world."


	37. Chapter 37 - The Accident

Tony glanced down at his phone screen and saw MJ's name. Answering, his heart started racing because instead of the snarky "Stark" he had come to expect from MJ, all he heard were sobs. "MJ, whats wrong?" The suit was already forming around him. Steve and Natasha froze mid conversation and turned towards him. "MJ, honey, I need you to calm down so I can understand what's going on." He flipped it over to speaker.

"They won't listen to me. They're taking him into surgery."

Tony handed the phone to Natasha. "MJ, I'm on my way. I'll trace the call. Keep taking to Natasha." He activated the suit fully and launched from the balcony FRIDAY had opened. "FRIDAY, find Peter. Trace MJ's call."

"Peter's tracker is no longer transmitting. MJ's call originated from the Regional Trauma Center in Queens."

Tony felt like he'd been hit in the chest. "FRIDAY, check the hospital records and see if Peter is listed. Call Helen and get her routed there now." He hit the thrusters and plotted a path to the hospital. He was too far out. It would take him almost 10 minutes to get there at top speed.

"Boss. Peter is not listed but a John Doe was admitted almost an hour ago along with a Jane Doe. Both are listed as critical."

MJ had called him so it wasn't her. But, Peter sometimes went out to dinner with May on Tuesdays because she got off early.

* * *

"MJ, where are you?" Natasha looked up at Steve who already had his phone out telling Clint to prep the Quinjet. It was the only way the rest of them could get into the city quickly.

"Hospital. There was a car accident. I didn't know it was him until they pulled May out." MJ bit back tears. "Nat..."

"Honey, were on our way. Tony will get there first but we're right behind him. You're at Regional Trauma in Queens, right?" FRIDAY was already transmitting data to Natasha's phone which she had in her other hand. She followed Steve out of the common area. Bucky and Sam were already in the hanger with Clint getting the jet powered up. "Stay on the phone with me, okay? Do your parents know where you are?"

MJ sniffled, "They're both working. I was at the library. I was going to meet Peter and May for dinner."

Natasha ran up the ramp as Clint closed it behind her. "We're on our way. What floor are you on?"

"I don't know."

"MJ look around you and tell me what you see?" Natasha looked down at her phone, keeping Tony's phone up to her ear. FRIDAY was still transmitting information as she got it. FRIDAY had confirmed that the two unknown patients were Peter and May. She scrolled through it and handed it to Steve. "MJ, what do you see?"

MJ's breathing had slowed down a little. She no longer felt like she was hyperventilating. "A nurses station, lines on the floor. Lines on the wall."

"What color are the lines?" Natasha kept her voice even.

"Green. There's a number. Three. I'm on the third floor." MJ took a deep breath. "I'm on the 3rd floor."

Natasha held up three fingers. Steve nodded and told FRIDAY to let Tony know.

* * *

Tony landed hard in front of the emergency room doors. The suit melted back into its nanohousing. He knew he had just terrified everyone within 20 feet of him. He didn't care. He was just barely holding it together. Walking through the door he heard FRIDAY tell him 3rd floor. Seeing stairs to the right of him he pushed the door open and took the stairs two at a time. Arriving at the third floor door he pushed it open. Tapping the side of his glasses he looked around. "FRIDAY, locate MJ. Is Helen here yet?"

"MJ is down the hallway to your left. Dr. Cho is 3 minutes out. The Quinjet is 5 minutes out."

Tony headed down the hall to find MJ. "FRIDAY, have you located Peter?" There was a catch in his voice.

"Peter is in Operating Room 7. A message has been sent to the surgical team to wait on Dr. Cho before doing anything."

Tony stepped into an open waiting room and saw MJ, phone still up to her ear.

MJ saw Tony walk into the waiting room and ran over to him throwing her arms around him. "I tried to stop them. They can't operate on him. They wouldn't listen to me."

Tony tightened his arms around MJ. He could feel her shaking. "Honey, you did the right thing. Dr. Cho is on her way." He stopped short of telling her Peter would be fine because he didn't know. He didn't know if his kid would be ok. He didn't know if he'd ever talk to him again. And he felt himself start to hyperventilate. Then he remembered MJ was standing in front of him with her arms wrapped around his neck holding of to him because it might be the only thing keeping her upright. He glanced around the room, his eyes landing on an alcove to the side. He pulled MJ with him and pushed her into the seat hidden by the half wall. "FRIDAY, status update."

"Dr. Cho has arrived and is making her way to the operating room with her team. The Quinjet dropped off Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers, and Sergeant Barnes."

* * *

Helen Cho purposefully made her way through the hospital. Natasha had called her from the Quinjet. Clint had pushed the engines and was in the process of dropping her, Steve, and Bucky at helicopter pad on the roof. Since none of them knew what they were walking into they were trying to be prepared for anything. FRIDAY had been transmitting her anything she came across about Peter. They had already started prepping Peter for surgery. If she didn't get there in time it would end up being so much worse for Peter. She had always had a fear that she would end up having to fight to save his life, she just really thought it would be superhero related. Not a stupid car accident. She rounded the corner and saw Rogers and Barnes push open a stairwell door. Natasha was close behind but headed off in another direction. Helen assumed she was headed to where ever Tony was. Tony was the last of her worries right now. The man had freaked out when Peter had gotten the flu. She couldn't imagine how he was right now.

"Dr. Cho..." Steve started but Helen cut him off.

"Just stay with me. I may need help."

Bucky looked at Steve but didn't argue, he just fell in step behind Steve.

Helen pushed the operating rooms doors open. "You were give orders to stand down." Helen watched the surgical team jump at the sound of her voice. It was nice to know that having the job of doctor to a bunch of superhero's had given her the ability to be more than a little forceful when she had to be. She quickly took in the machines surrounding the operating table. She had managed to avoid looking at the patient but her eyes finally landed on the figure on the table. If she didn't know what was at stake she might have frozen. Peter looked...well, he didn't look like Peter. Her eyes snapped back up to the IV. "What did you give him." One of her own surgical team moved forward and started working. They all knew what needed to be done. "All of you out." She stood by the door and waited for all of the original team to file out. Barnes and Rogers were still standing by the door. Helen took a deep breath and walked toward the table.

"It looks like they were trying to put him under as well as give him something for the pain."

Helen ventured a glance down and saw Peter's familiar brown eyes staring up at her, panic evident in them. "Peter, we have you." She quickly took stock of his injuries. She had read through the initial ER intake reports. Head trauma, shattered ulna and radius on both arms, right hand broken in multiple places, most of the ribs on his right side are also broken. There was danger that one might puncture a lung but that wasn't the current emergency. It was the intracranial pressure that was the current problem. She looked over at the relatively empty side of the room. "Any time Stephen."

Steve and Bucky looked past Peter as a faint orange circle started glowing. They trusted Helen Cho but they had both also seen way too much in their lives. A man dressed in scrubs stepped through the circle.

"While I'm still technically able to practice medicine, showing up in an operating room with eyewitnesses would just lead to a lot of questions."

Bucky instinctively moved between the new arrival and Peter. Helen looked between Barnes and their new arrival. "We don't have time for this. Dr. Stephen Strange, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers."

Dr. Strange stepped forward and Bucky grudgingly stepping to the side. "I'm curious to meet the fifteen year old boy that has two super soldiers protecting him and Helen Cho willing to call in favors."

Helen looked up from a readout, "Help me save him and you can meet him." She glanced over at a member of her medical team. "We can't give him anything else until he metabolizes what they gave him. Keep an eye on his blood saturation levels." She moved closer to Peter and leaned over. She could tell the morphine they had given him had worn off because he was starting to tense up. "Peter, I can't give you the good stuff yet. I know you're in pain. We need to look at your head." She moved back and started examining the side of his head.

Bucky moved to Peter's side the second Dr. Cho touched the side of his head. He knew what this was like. He knew what the kid was going through. Hydra had never been big on pain killers. He could hear Peter's heart racing. "Peter. You can do this." He reached down and grabbed Peter's hand. The one that wasn't crushed. Even though the rest of the arm was broken he knew Peter wouldn't have a problem grabbing his hand. He grasped Peter's hand with the metal and locked eyes with him. "Look at me. Don't worry about Dr. Cho. Steve is going to hold your legs so feel free to kick him. Remember the crazy science experiment, the one that's still classified?"

Helen looked up briefly as Bucky Barnes launched into a ridiculous story about something from World War II. She was gaining a new found respect for him. Peter's heart rate was no longer racing. It was obvious from all of his other readings that he was still in tremendous pain but whatever Bucky was doing was keeping him centered. She had watched this kid get stitched up with no pain killers so she knew he was tough. This was unimaginable though. "Stephen, can you do something about the pressure, please."

Steve and Bucky both glanced up as Dr. Strange started to work. They both knew to hold their questions until Peter was taken care of. Bucky looked back down at Peter and kept talking. Steve noticed that Bucky's hand was denting slightly under the pressure from Peter's hand. He could also feel Peter's legs tense and pull against the pressure he was putting on them. "Can't you give him something?"

A member of Dr. Cho's team looked over at Steve. "As soon as he metabolized what they gave him. It shouldn't be long. But if we give it while there's still drugs in his system it'll do more damage than good."


	38. Chapter 38 - Repairs

Tony paced in front of MJ. FRIDAY had gotten information about May. She had a spinal cord injury but was stable. He knew she was in good hands for the time being. He saw Natasha walk into the room and head toward them.

"Barnes and Steve are with Dr. Cho in the operating room. There's nothing we can do until she's done." Natasha was blunt and to the point but she knew better than to coddle Tony right now. Facts were what he needed to focus on.

"It should be me in there with him." Tony paced in front of MJ and Natasha. He should be the one with Peter, not Steve, not Barnes.

Natasha knew Tony wasn't thinking much past what kind of shape Peter was in right now. FRIDAY was still feeding them both information so they both knew the extent of his injuries. "Let Dr. Cho work. That's all we can do right now." She looked over and saw Rhodey walk into the waiting room. She waved him over. Reaching down she put her hand on MJ's shoulder. The girl jumped at the touch. "Come on, lets see if we can find some coffee or something."

Rhodey nodded at Natasha as they exchanged places. He watched his friend pace. He finally caught Tony's eye. "What can I do?"

Tony stopped pacing and sank into a chair. "I need to know how he's doing. FRIDAY can only tell me so much. I need to know what he needs."

Rhodey slid his phone out and texted Steve. If he didn't get an answer by the time Natasha got back he would head to the operating room himself. He was a little surprised Tony hadn't forced his way in already. On the other hand, he could tell Tony was, for quite possibly the first time in his life, faced with something he couldn't fix himself. And it probably terrified him.

* * *

Steve felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. They had finally been able to give Peter something that actually worked on him so he was now just standing at the edge of the room watching the two doctors work. He pulled his phone out and read the message from Rhodey. "Is there anything we can tell them." Dr. Cho looked up from the arm she was currently reconstructing. Dr. Strange was on the other side doing something. Steve had given up on trying to figure out what Dr. Strange was doing. All he knew was that whatever it was, it was good for Peter.

"Tell Tony that his kid is out of danger for now. I'm setting the bones in his arms and Dr. Strange is working on the nerve damage. It's going to be a little bit longer." She looked over at Dr. Strange, "Is it safe to transport him using a portal? We can't keep him at the hospital."

Dr. Strange thought through the question. "Yes, I believe it would be safe. And I can understand why he doesn't need to be in a regular hospital. His regeneration ability is amazing. I'm actually observing nerves, muscle, and bone regrowing in front of me. It's fascinating."

"Try to remember that those nerves, muscles, and bones belong to a 15 year old kid." Bucky crossed his arms and stood next to Strange.

Dr. Cho looked back down at Peter's arm. "Tell Tony we'll transport him back to the compound when we're done."

Before Steve could ask, Bucky spoke up. "I'm staying. Deliver the information in person."

* * *

Tony jumped to his feet when he saw Steve walk into the waiting room. "Steve?"

"Dr. Cho is working on him. He's out of danger. She has a lot of work to do through. She brought a neurosurgeon in to help. Between his arms and his head there was a lot of nerve damage. She's planning on taking him to the compound when she's done."

Tony started thinking through logistics of moving Peter. It was obvious he couldn't stay at the hospital. "Is it safe to move him? Even in the Quinjet I'm afraid it would be too rough."

"Yeah, about that. Dr. Cho has an alternative transportation in mind. I can't even begin to explain it to you." Steve could tell that his explanation was just making Tony even more nervous. "Bucky is staying with him. You know he won't let anything happen to him. And Dr. Cho won't do anything to hurt him. You've got to let her do her job." He knew Tony needed more than that. "Tony, he's not in danger."

Natasha and MJ walked back over to the group, both with coffee cups in their hands. "We saw May. She's unconscious still, although I think they may be keeping her out so they can evaluate. Her spinal cord and vertebrae were damaged."

Tony frowned, "How high?"

Natasha shook her head, "I think it was actually pretty low. All of the focus seemed to be on her lower back."

"FRIDAY, pull all of the information we have from Rhodey's injury and start finding some specialists." Tony looked over at Rhodey. They both knew what was in store for May. But, they had learned a lot from Rhodey's injury that could help May now. "The best one by far is Strange, but he was in a car accident right after you were hurt and then he disappeared."

Steve looked over at Tony. "Did you say Strange? Dr. Stephen Strange?"

Tony nodded, it was odd that Steve would know the name.

"That's who Dr. Cho called in to help Peter."

* * *

Dr. Cho looked at her surgical team. "Once we have him to the compound, do what you can to clean him up before Stark sees him." She looked over at Bucky, "Text Steve and let him know we're transporting Peter now. I'm assuming you're going with Peter." She waited for the nod before continuing. "Tony is going to want to go the fastest route which will be the portal so have all of them come here."

Strange opened a portal and looked over at Dr. Cho. "You are using up all of your favors. I am not public transportation."

Bucky fought back a snarl as he passed Strange and entered the portal. He had kept one hand on Peter's leg, one of the few parts of him that wasn't covered in some kind of brace or tube. It was literally like walking from one room to another but he knew those rooms were miles apart.

The portal closed and Strange looked at Helen. "What makes this boy so special?"

"He's just a really good kid. He took his situation and did something good with it. It's hard to explain." Dr. Cho expected Tony any minute. She was never sure what kind of fireworks to expect from the man. "I've sent you data on his aunt too. Let me know what you think. She just your typical human so I don't think what you did for Peter would work on her."

Strange nodded. Peter's regeneration abilities were what allowed him to repair all the nerve damage. There would have to be a lot of regrowth that would have to happen on its own, but a normal human's nervous system wouldn't be able to take the strain. He knew because he had tried. He looked up as the operating room door opened.

"Helen, where is he?" Steve had told him they were transporting him back already but he had expected, maybe hoped, that Peter would still be in the operating room. That he could see his kid. Tony fought to keep panic from rising.

"He's back at the compound. Tony, this is Dr. Stephen Strange. Former neurosurgeon, current protector of the New York Sanctum, Master of the Mystic Arts. He transported Peter via a portal and is willing to transport you the same way. We can unpack all of this later, but right now, you want to see your kid, right?" She nodded at Stephen who produced a portal. "Stephen, let me know on the consult. And let me know when you want to come check on your patient." With that she stepped through the portal. She was hopeful that she had distracted Tony enough that all of the snarky comments wouldn't come out and he would just follow her through the portal and bring the rest in tow. Smiling she heard footsteps behind her in the compound hallway.


	39. Chapter 39 -MedBay

Tony sat in a chair next to Peter's bed with his feet propped up on the metal bars supporting the bed. Despite the attempt to make the rooms in the MedBay seem less like a hospital room, it was still a hospital room. He had pretty much been in the chair since they arrived. He had come so close to losing him he didn't want to leave. Not right now.

Steve walked in and paused by door, unsure if he needed to intrude. Tony nodded to him and he took it to be an invitation. "How is he?"

"The same. But Helen says to expect him to stay unconscious for at least a week. There's a lot of damage to heal."

Steve looked from Peter to Tony. "How are you?"

"I have been better." Tony dropped his feet down from the bed and shifted in his chair. "I thought part of me was prepared for this. With what he does, he will eventually get hurt. And not the run of the mill injuries he gets on a regular basis. But...". He looked over at Peter. "This. I wasn't prepared."

Steve sat down in the chair next to Tony's. "You never will be. In a battle, the expectation is always there. You go into them knowing something can happen, but it's still always a shock when something happens. This wasn't even on the radar. You could never be prepared for something like this."

Tony had spent the last couple hours thinking about Peter's injuries. What he might need when he woke up. If there was anything they could do now. He had thought about what caused the injuries too. He knew Steve had seen the accident report. "He tried to stop the car, didn't he? He knew it was coming and he tried to stop it. From inside the car."

Steve nodded. "That's my guess. The other car hit them on May's side." Steve sighed. "From inside the car, he didn't have the leverage to stop it completely. It explains why both arms were broken. I think the cars spun too. There was damage to the front. From where he was, the steering wheel was driven into him causing all of the damage to his right side." He looked over at Tony. "May would have died on impact if he hadn't done it."

Tony sighed and looked down. Peter would do it again in a heartbeat.

* * *

Tony felt a hand on his shoulder and he jerked awake. He looked up at Pepper who leaned over and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek. She sat down next him in silence. There was no point in asking how Peter was. Helen and Tony had both told her when she talked to them on the flight back that Peter was going to be unconscious for a while. There was no point in asking how Tony was because she knew how he was. He was worried about Peter and he was frustrated because he couldn't do anything.

"You said something about lawyers earlier. I wasn't paying attention." He looked over at her sheepishly. "Sorry."

Pepper smiled. "They're working on the paperwork for us to have legally named guardians until all of this gets figured out. Dr. Cho is also in contact with the hospital about when they'll be able to transfer May to the compound. And, I have an appointment next week with Peter's principal."

Tony chuckled. "You have been busy."

"Tony, I was stuck on a plane for 6 hours." Pepper sighed and looked at Peter. "I had to do something and that was my only real option."

Tony leaned over and kissed Pepper. "I love you. Why don't you head upstairs and get some sleep."

Pepper stood up. "You have 24 hours. 24 hours of staking out his hospital room before we work out some kind of schedule. I get that you don't want him to be alone but you will not sleep in a chair for a week. He is going to need you when he wakes up and you're not going to be able to do it because you're exhausted."

Tony nodded and looked back at Peter. She was right. No one, including Dr. Cho knew what to expect with Peter when he woke up.


	40. Chapter 40 - Awake

Bucky looked up at Steve. "What day is it?"

"Saturday." Any other time, Steve would have found the question odd, but it hadn't been a good week and none of them had normal schedules. Steve was pretty sure Bucky had slept at least a couple nights in the hall outside Peter's room in the medical wing.

Bucky stood up. "You need to come with me." Bucky headed out of MedBay leaving Steve trailing in his wake.

"Come where? Bucky, what's wrong?"

Distracted, Bucky paused and turned. "You'll need your shield and probably your uniform."

"Bucky, stop." Steve stopped in the hallway, refusing to move until Bucky told him what he was worried about and why he needed his shield to deal with it.

Bucky turned around and pulled Steve over to the side. "Ok, look, you have to promise you won't say anything. I don't know why he doesn't want anyone to know but he doesn't. Tony probably already knows because I'm not sure there's anything Tony doesn't know about Peter, but still, he doesn't want me to say anything to anyone."

"Still not clear...at all." Steve was beginning to think Bucky was spending way too much time with Peter. Either that or Bucky felt like someone had to fill the void of too many words squeezed in too small of a space.

Bucky took a deep breath. "You know that nurse I've gone out with a couple times?"

Steve nodded, still not sure what it had to do with his shield or Peter.

"She works at the Children's Hospital. I met her when I drove Peter over there that Saturday when it was raining."

Steve was still incredibly confused. "Why were you and Peter at a Children's Hospital?" Neither one of them had said anything about an incident that morning.

"That's what he does Saturday mornings when he's in the city. He goes to the Children's Hospital and visits with the kids. He's amazing with them. I started going with him because that first day, there was this kid that had his lower arm amputated...". Bucky didn't think he could explain to Steve why he kept going back.

Steve started to put he pieces together. "This is a Saturday he's supposed to be in the city."

Bucky nodded. "I can't tell them Spider-Man can't visit him because he's unconscious in a hospital bed. But Captain America can take his place. They'll probably be a little disappointed that you won't walk on the ceiling, but...". Bucky looked at Steve with a grin. He knew Steve would go now that he knew. And he couldn't help but to tease him a little bit now.

* * *

Dr. Cho walked in, expecting to see Tony in his normal chair, found Natasha with her legs curled up speaking Russian to Peter.

She switched to English, "Dr. Cho just came in. She probably wants to see how you're doing."

Dr. Cho shook her head and walked over and inspected Peter's head. The wound was healing. She was guessing that by the time Peter woke up it would be completely healed. "If you see Tony, tell him I'm going to take him down to imaging later on today. I want to see how his arms are doing. If we're guessing right on how the spider will triage the wounds it'll heal his skull first, then ribs, then arms, then soft tissue. His nervous system is the wild card. Any other time that he's been hurt he hasn't really done any significant damage to his nerves so I don't have a baseline."

Natasha nodded. "You're worried about his nervous system?"

Dr. Cho shrugged. "There's some testing we can do but a lot of it is going to be dependent on him. If he hadn't had that sensory issue a month ago I wouldn't be as worried."

"Is everything ready for May's arrival tomorrow's?"

Dr. Cho nodded, "Dr. Strange is working with some doctors in Germany to come up with a treatment plan. They used his original research and have had some success in regrowing nerves in non-enhanced individuals."

"I will let Tony know. He'll probably want to be there when you take him to imaging."

* * *

Tony watched as Peter's arms and chest were x-rayed. The images popped up on the screen. Dr. Cho started enlarging various views to look at the bones.

"His ribs look ok. They're not 100% yet but they're further along than his arms are. I want to keep him in the braces until they're healed further. I may bump the nutrients and see if that'll speed this up a little bit. He didn't like the sling. He's going to hate the braces on his arms."

"Do you still think he'll wake up sometime this week?"

Dr. Cho nodded. "If we were betting on it, I'd say Wednesday. But, he's an overachiever so it wouldn't surprise me if it was earlier."

* * *

Pepper walked into Peter's hospital room and found Tony in the same chair. He had agreed that he wouldn't stay in MedBay so between all of them they had worked out a schedule. They had moved a more comfortable sofa into the room for whoever spent the night to sleep on. During the day it wasn't unusual to find various Avengers in the room either talking to the unconscious Peter or simply reading or on occasion watching TV. Tony generally made use of the time. She smiled when she heard him talking to Peter.

"Pepper and I are going to meet with your principal. Apparently you missed class selections for the fall so now I get to pick your classes. You know I probably shouldn't be trusted with this so you might want to wake up and tell me what classes you want to take." Tony sighed when he didn't get a response. He glanced over at Pepper. "May talked to Mrs. Leeds so I know what Ned is taking. MJ texted me her schedule too. I'll see what I can do with your schedule."

"Are you ready? Happy brought the car around to this entrance so we can leave from here." Pepper stepped to the side as one of the nurses walked in. They had timed their absence from the compound to coincide with the couple hours the nurses and Dr. Cho took to work with Peter. If he and Pepper weren't back by the time they were done Natasha was going to get the debrief from Dr. Cho and then relay information to Tony upon his return. They had a good system in place. Most of it had already been planned out before Tony had even brought up needing a system. They saw Peter as one of their own and it's just what they did.

* * *

Happy pulled up to the curb and dropped Pepper and Tony off. Their meeting with Principal Morita was scheduled for after school. Tony had already texted MJ and Ned to tell them they would be there so they had waited after school.

"MJ and Ned. I want to show you something. Maybe it'll help you believe me when I say he's getting better." He pulled out his phone and opened a picture that he had taken of Peter's monitors before he and Pepper had left. "Don't look at Peter. Peter still looks like crap. Look at his monitors. His monitors are showing increased brain activity that Dr. Cho swears to me means that he should be waking up in a couple days. So, here's the deal. As soon as he's awake I will let you know. As soon as he's up for visitors, one of us will come get you." He looked at the two teens hoping they would accept the evidence he was offering them. He knew they both wanted to see Peter but sitting in his hospital room wasn't going to do them any good. He had texted them updates every morning but that hadn't stopped the influx of texts during the day. He suspected both of them had gotten their phones confiscated at least once for texting in class.

Pepper hugged MJ and Ned. "We're going to be late for our meeting. We promise that you will know when he wakes up."

Pepper and Tony made there way to the office. Scheduling the meeting for after school provided them a little more privacy but there were still kids milling around the school. Principle Morita was waiting for them and ushered them into his office immediately. "How is Peter?"

Pepper sat down in the chair across from Principal Morita and pulled Tony down next to her. "He's still unconscious but his doctors tell us that's to be expected. They're anticipating that he'll wake up this week. I believe you talked to May this morning?"

Principal Morita nodded, "She seemed to be in good spirits. She said that she had given you both emergency custody of Peter."

Pepper pulled an envelope out of her purse and handed it to Principal Morita. "For your files. We would appreciate it if this remains confidential. We don't want Peter negatively impacted. Our positions on occasion make us fodder for reporters."

Tony smiled inwardly. He was immensely grateful Pepper was taking the lead. She was so artful in her delivery it was truly amazing.

"I completely understand. Student files are confidential but I will go a step further and simply lock this away and not put it into our system. Mr. Stark, I believe you are already listed as Peter's emergency contact so there's really no need to change anything else." He paused and cleared his throat, "We do need to get his schedule set for the fall. We can make changes in September if we need to but we try to get everything lined up now so we can plan. May said you have some of the information." He hesitated briefly before continuing. "Peter will be starting his junior year and I have some recommendations I would like to make."

Tony perked up, the fact that Morita had hesitated interested him. "Please do. I have some thoughts of my own but I'd like to hear yours."

"Peter is extraordinarily gifted as I'm sure you know. May has always pushed back on moving him into even more advanced classes which made sense to a certain point. But, junior year is when colleges start looking at grades and I think he would do well with dual enrollment."

Tony almost laughed out loud. This was pretty much the same conversation he had just had with May. "I couldn't agree more. He's bored in most of his science classes."

Principal Morita breathed a sigh of relief. "We're working with a couple of the local colleges to come here instead of the kids going there. The idea is the get their core classes out of the way their junior and senior year so they're focused on their major specific classes when they start at the school of their choice. Peter shouldn't be overloaded because quite honestly we're running out of science classes for him to take."

Pepper looked between Tony and Principal Morita. She had been a little concerned about Tony behaving himself but he was actually enjoying himself. "Principal Morita, If you need any help convincing anyone let us know." Now she was worried that she was going to have to reign him in.

* * *

Tony settled on the couch. He had strategically put himself on the schedule to spend the night in Peter's room tonight. Peter had been moving around more during the day. Dr. Cho thought he'd still be out another day but Tony thought otherwise. And, if Peter was going to wake up, he wanted to make sure he was there.

Peter was increasingly restless as the night went on. Even if Tony was tired there's no way he could have slept. He shifted over to the chair next to the bed and leaned forward. "Come on kid, you've been asleep way too long. Dr. Cho said you might heal faster if you had some solid food which you can't do while you're asleep. Plus, May wants you to come see her." He saw Peter turn his head slightly. Standing he leaned over and pushed his hair back. "Come on Pete." Peter pressed his head against Tony's hand bringing a smile to his face. "Pete. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Peter pressed his face against the warm hand and turned toward the voice that always meant he was safe and opened his eyes.


	41. Chapter 41 - Working Towards Normal

Dr. Cho walked into Peter's room. She was somewhat surprised to find the lights still dimmed. "Still having problems with light?" Peter had been awake for just over 24 hours and had slept through most of them. She glanced over at Tony who had become a fixture at this point.

Peter shrugged. "Light is ok for a little while then it starts to give me a headache." His voice was still a little horse from not being used for so long but he sounded better than she expected him to.

"Dr. Strange wants to come by today and look at you." She glanced over at Tony to get his approval.

"Any testing? X-Rays and visiting May yesterday took it out of him." Tony scooted forward in his chair. He knew he was being over protective but so far Peter wasn't pushing back.

"I don't think so, but I'll check." She turned back to Peter. "We're going to unhook you from everything but monitors this morning. I'll leave the oxygen available but I'd prefer for you to come off of it. You don't need it but it's sometimes hard to give up when you've been on it so long."

Peter have a half smile. He would be glad to get rid of all of the wires and tubes. "How about the braces?"

Dr. Cho shook her head. "I need the bones to completely fuse before taking them off. You're probably looking at another couple days at least." She glanced over at Tony. "The room is going to get crowded with everyone unhooking him. You can come back in when they're done."

Tony saw the nurses at the door and grudgingly stood up. "I'll be in the hallway if you need me."

Once in the hallway, Dr. Cho nodded further down the hall. Once a decent ways away from Peter's room she turned and looked at Tony. "I'm concerned about his inability to tolerate light."

Tony shook his head. "It's not just light. It's everything. Light and sound are triggering when he gets frustrated but touch randomly sets him off too. I was helping him shift in his bed earlier. He said it hit him out of nowhere and felt like every inch of his skin was on fire."

Dr. Cho sighed. "That's why I want Strange to see him. I'll set it up."

* * *

Dr. Strange sat on the other side of Dr. Cho's desk studying Peter's medical records. He looked across the desk at Dr. Cho. "His nerves are regrowing. It's not a fun process but I don't think he'd like the alternative either."

"Can't you wave a magic wand or something?" Tony glared down at the man from where he was perched on the side of the desk.

The sarcasm from Stark was not lost on Dr. Strange. Dr. Cho had warned him repeatedly to let him slide but it was getting annoying. He let out an exasperated sigh. "No, I cannot wave a magic wand. I also don't think running any tests on him is a good idea."

Dr. Cho knitted her brows in confusion. "Wouldn't a conductivity or a velocity test help narrow down the issues?"

Tony and Dr. Strange shook their heads simultaneously. Tony spoke up first. "Those tests all utilize electricity. I don't think he would tolerate it well for starters. I'm also not entirely sure how the spider would react."

Strange stared at Tony, "He's correct." Tony Stark was an interesting individual. Annoying, but interesting.

Dr. Cho leaned back, "Then what do we do?"

"Neither one of you is going to like the answer. We're going to have to wait it out. His body's ability to regenerate flies in the face of everything we know about nerve growth." Dr. Strange stood up and looked between Stark and Dr. Cho. "Deal with his sensory overload as best you can but remember that it's like a muscle. It only grows stronger if it's stressed. You should see things get better, even if it's in small increments." An orange portal opened and Dr. Strange paused before walking through it. "Call me if you have any serious problems."

Tony and Dr. Cho watched the portal close. Tony looked over at Helen. "Well that was less than helpful."

Helen shrugged. "It's better than nothing. So, we build up his tolerance to sensory stimuli. He'll need a buffer area. His room is set up to deal with sensory overload, right?"

Tony nodded. "I added the protocol after the incident last month."

Dr. Cho closed Peter's file on her tablet. "I wanted to try to wait until the braces were off and he was back on a semi normal sleep schedule before releasing him but we can move him earlier if we need to."

* * *

Peter walked into the bathroom that adjoined his hospital room. The braces sucked. It made everything difficult. Finally accomplishing the small task of relieving his bladder he stood in front of the mirror. It was really the first time he had seen himself. The scar on his head was healing. His curls flopped into his eyes so he shoved them back clumsily with a braced hand only to have them flop back down. He growled at the mirror and tried to push them back again only to have them flop back down. He heard Tony walk into the bathroom behind him. He looked at him in the mirror. "Can you just shave it all off?"

"Seriously?" Tony stepped closer to Peter and tried to help push his hair back only to have it flop forward again.

"Seriously. I can't deal with this." Any other time it might have been comical but now Peter was just getting more and more frustrated. He glanced up at the lights. "FRIDAY, reduce lights to 50%."

Tony frowned, Peter's sensitivity was getting worse not better. "Back in bed. I'll find something to take care of your hair this afternoon."

* * *

Natasha walked into Peter's room and froze at the door. "What...!?" She gestured to Peter.

Tony leaned forward and paused the movie that was playing. "It was annoying him so we cut it."

Natasha walked over and brushed her fingers across Peter's head. The short hair was soft and velvety but she preferred the curls he always tried to hide. "Hmm...how are you feeling?"

Peter shrugged. "Ok. But I officially hate braces." He held up both arms in emphasis.

"It's only for another couple days, right?" Natasha looked between Tony and Peter for confirmation. Peter shrugged and Tony held his hands up in a 'who knows gesture'. Natasha rolled her eyes at the two. "Peter, do you feel up for company tomorrow? I thought I could pick up Ned and MJ after school. Maybe we can break you out of here for a little while."

Peter smiled. "Yeah! Definitely." He looked over at Mr. Stark, "Think she'll let me out of them long enough to eat?" Peter knew he was hoping for a lot but the last thing he wanted to do was try to eat in front of people with the braces on and, if MJ and Ned were coming after school they pretty much had to stay for dinner. If they didn't, they'd have to turn around and go home five minutes after they got here.

"It'll probably take another round of x-rays to see how they're doing, but, maybe we can talk her into it."

* * *

Pepper glanced up at the teens sitting on either side of Peter. "He seems to be doing ok, right?"

Tony followed her glance. "I think so. You have to help me get the braces back on him after dinner. I'm envisioning him making a run for it."

Pepper laughed. "He promised. It'll be fine." She picked up the bowl of fruit and walked to the table. Scooping some out onto Peter's plate she turned and put some on MJ and Ned's plates too. Tony followed her with boxes of pizza. They had spent an abnormal amount of time planning a meal for three teens. Pepper really hadn't wanted to do pizza. Tony and Peter ate so much of it that she generally fought against it any other time but everything else they came up with was dismissed because they thought Peter might struggle to eat it. He had full mobility in both hands but being immobilized for almost two weeks had made him way less coordinated than he usually was. So pizza it was.

Bringing MJ and Ned up had been a great idea. Seeing them had put Peter in a good mood. Tony mentally noted to try to get at least one of them up to the compound every couple days. It was also exhausting Peter. He really only lasted about an hour after dinner. Tony noticed the smile starting to slip from Peter's face and he wasn't participating in the conversation as much as he had earlier. "Ok, I think we need to bring this party to a close." He didn't miss the grateful look from Peter. He also didn't miss Peter tense when MJ leaned over and hugged him. Pepper walked them out to meet Happy who was going to drive them home.

The elevator doors slid shut and Tony turned around to find Peter crouched on the floor. "You're sleeping up here tonight." He leaned over and pulled Peter up, careful to avoid the still unbraced arms.

Peter let Tony push him towards his bedroom and onto his bed. Surely he could change by himself, right?

"I'm going to let Helen know and then I'll come back in to check on you."

Peter nodded and waited for the door to close before pulling his shirt gingerly over his head. "FRIDAY, lights at 50%." The lights dimmed and he managed to get into the pajama pants and t-shirt Mr. Stark had tossed to him. He was walking out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth when Mr. Stark walked back in. "Everything hurts. It's like it's alternating between being on fire and tingling."

Tony nodded. "It's just the nerves regrowing. I know it sucks kiddo." Tony knew there was zero chance he was getting the braces on with Peter's skin feeling the way it was right now. He pulled a watch out of his pocket and held it up. "I'll leave the braces off but I need you monitored if you're staying up here."

Peter looked at the watch. He knew it wasn't his original one because it had been destroyed. "You made me a new watch?"

Tony sat on the bed next to Peter and started fastening it on his wrist. "Of course I did." He stood up a Peter stretched out in bed. "Call me if you need me." He opened the door and turned around to make sure Peter was in bed. "FRIDAY, Blackout Protocol. Night Pete."

* * *

Peter woke up and stared at the ceiling. Even in complete blackout he could still see a little bit of detail. It wasn't overwhelming though. "FRIDAY, what time is it?" He expected her to say something along the lines of '4am'. She didn't.

"It's 9:30 pm. You have been asleep for less than 2 hours."

Peter groaned. His skin still hurt. Usually when he woke up he felt much better. He also usually slept longer. He still felt exhausted. Lying in bed wasn't helping.

* * *

"Boss, Peter has been awake for 45 minutes."

Tony got up from the couch. FRIDAY wasn't programmed to tell him when Peter woke up so the fact the she told him he was awake was almost as bothersome as the fact that Peter was awake this soon after going to sleep. Walking down the hall he opened Peter's door. "Pete?"

"Yeah."

Tony looked up as he told FRIDAY to bring the lights up 5%. "Kid, what are you doing?" Peter was standing on the ceiling. "Please tell me you didn't do anything to hurt your arms."

Peter dropped down off the ceiling. "Of course not. I just walked up the wall. I can't sleep and this room, as large as it is, gets really small when you're pacing."

Tony sighed. "FRIDAY, tell Dr. Cho Pete is having problems sleeping and ask her to come up here." He looked at Peter, "Still having sensory problems?"

Peter nodded. "Light and sound but it's just a dull headache. Nerve endings aren't quite as bad. I just want to sleep though."

Dr. Cho appeared at the door. "Your sleep schedule is fairly messed up right now. I'm on the fence about this but I think giving you something to help you sleep tonight might help jumpstart your sleep cycles." She pulled a pill bottle out and handed it to Tony. "It's high doses of melatonin with a time release component that will work with his system. Non-addictive but it's still not something he needs to take on a regular basis. Let's try it and see how it goes."

Tony frowned, from past personal experience he wasn't fond of the idea of Pete taking anything but also realized that Pete wasn't him. And, melatonin was fairly harmless. He looked over at Peter to gauge his reaction.

"I'm all for trying anything. I want to sleep."

Tony dumped a pill out, handed it to Peter, then returned the bottle to Dr. Cho.

* * *

Peter woke up the next morning and looked around his room. FRIDAY had disengaged blackout mode last night so he could see slivers of daylight through his curtains. He felt good. His head didn't hurt and his nerve ending didn't feel like they were threatening to burst into flames. Maybe he was finally working his way towards normal


	42. Chapter 42 - Crawling In My Skin

"Peter, I understand that Blackout Mode means that you don't get overloaded and that it doesn't hurt, but the only way your nerves are going to heal are for them to actually be exposed to input." Dr. Cho looked at her patient. None of them expected Peter's recovery to be easy but they didn't anticipate it being this hard either. He had gone from being ok to hiding in his cave of a room in less than a week.

"You don't understand!" Peter got up from the exam table and started pacing. "It's too much. Too much sound. Too much light. My skin alternates between feeling like it's on fire to feeling like something crawling on it to nothing. Everyone has always said that sleep is how I heal. I need to sleep."

"Peter. Sleep is not the answer here. Yes, sleep gives your body energy to heal itself but so does food. You don't look like you're eating." Peter had never been a great patient but he was exceeding even Tony at this point when it came to not listening to doctors.

Peter got defensive. "I'm eating." He knew as it was coming out of his mouth that it was a lie. He wasn't eating. He didn't feel like eating.

"I'm limiting the time you're allowed in Blackout Mode." Dr. Cho had already told FRIDAY to limit Peter, she just hadn't passed the message on to him yet.

"You can't do that! I can barely sleep when I have it in blackout mode. If you take it away from me I won't be able to sleep at all." Peter clinched his fists at his side.

"Peter, you can. And you will. I will allow you to continue taking melatonin but right now I want you to go back upstairs and eat something. At this point I don't care what it is." Dr. Cho needed to talk to Tony. His kid was starting to worry her. "Let Tony help you."

"I don't need help. I need to sleep." Peter slammed the door of the exam room as he left. Skipping the elevator he ran up the stairs to his floor. He knew Pepper was on the west coast and Mr. Stark was down a floor talking to Natasha and Steve about some of the ops the team had been involved in the last couple weeks. Ops that hadn't included Peter or Mr. Stark. Instead of heading to the kitchen he went straight to his bedroom.

* * *

Dr. Cho stepped out the elevator onto the floor the Avengers occupied. She saw Tony standing in the common area with Natasha and Steve.

He looked up when he saw her and he was pretty sure she had just seen Peter judging by the look on her face. "Let me guess, he didn't take it well?"

"No. Although I think you were probably right in thinking he would have blown up more if you had been there."

Tony ran his hand over his face and looked at Steve and Natasha. "Any idea how to deal with a stubborn teenager who hurts but can't actually take anything to help it and it makes him cranky?"

Steve shook his head. "Way outside my expertise."

"Clint could probably weigh in on the stubborn teenager side but the rest of it is new territory for all of us." Natasha hated that Peter was in pain and none of them could fix it. She knew Tony was taking it the hardest.

* * *

Peter stared at the ceiling of his room. He couldn't figure out why he felt the way he did. He should be healed by now. Even after the Vulture incident he was fine after a few days. Now, two weeks later he couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat, and he hurt. He knew he was tough. There was a lot he could withstand. Why couldn't he deal with this. Just suck it up, deal with it, and move on. He had moments when he felt fine. Then, something would send one of senses reeling and he'd find himself in his bedroom in Blackout Mode until he felt better. And now, they wanted to take that brief reprieve away from him. Standing up he walked into the bathroom. Picking up the bottle of Spider formulated melatonin he twisted the cap off and dumped a couple out. If one let him sleep in Blackout Mode, maybe two would let him sleep without it. Dr. Cho has said it wasn't addictive and he knew it was something that the body produced on its own anyway. A couple wouldn't hurt, right? Throwing them into his mouth he swallowed them and crawled into bed to sleep off the latest round of feeling bad.

* * *

Peter woke up feeling slightly better but not great. Glancing at his watch he realized he had only been asleep for a couple hours. Apparently more helped him go to sleep but not stay asleep. He kicked the covers off and headed toward the kitchen. He was actually a little hungry. He didn't want a ton of food or anything hard to eat. His right hand still ached a little bit. The bones were healed but the soft tissue was still healing. Eating was just hard sometimes. He grabbed a banana off the counter and ate it while he looked through the refrigerator for something easy.

"Want me to fix you some eggs or something? Pancakes?" Tony walked into the kitchen and stopped when Peter tensed up and shut the refrigerator door.

"I don't need help." Peter grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with water. Finishing it he put it in the sink and glanced at Tony.

"I'm just offering to make scrambled eggs." Dealing with Peter the last couple days was like walking on eggshells. "You need to eat more than a banana."

"I'm fine."

"Pete, you're not fine. Let me help you. Sit down and I'll fix something you can eat. We can order pizza if you'd rather have that." Tony knew what the result was going to be before the words were out of his mouth.

Peter pushed himself off the counter. "I'm fine. I don't need help." He walked past Mr. Stark and headed for his bedroom. When he got there he slammed his bedroom door. "FRIDAY, Blackout Protocol."

"Peter, you are approaching your allotted time in Blackout Mode for the day. We could try Sleeping Baby and see if it's enough."

Just what he needed. One more person who thought they knew what was best for him. "FRIDAY, Blackout. Now."

His room turned pitch black and all of the sounds he could hear vanished. The problem with Blackout mode was that he could still see.

FRIDAY'S voice was quiet. "Peter, you have 30 minutes remaining of Blackout Mode."

Peter unconsciously launched himself into the corner nearest him and punched the ceiling where he knew one of FRIDAY'S sensors was housed. Wrapping his hand around it, he yanked it out, disconnecting it from the main network. Leaping to the next corner he repeated the motion. Two down, two to go. He knew the other two weren't connected to the network and were just piggybacked off of the main two so if the alarm hadn't sounded he was in the clear. Maybe now he could rest. He dropped to the floor after ripping the fourth one out, landing in a crouch. Ducking his head down he thought it would be enough. That his skin would stop feeling like it was on fire. That his head would stop hurting. It wasn't. It wasn't nearly enough.

Rising he headed towards his bathroom and pushed the door open. Grabbing the pills off the counter he twisted the cap off and dumped the bottle into his hand. It wasn't going to be enough. He threw the bottle against the wall and threw the pills into his mouth and swallowed. Turning on the water he splashed some into his mouth to chase the pills down. Gripping the counter top and looked into the mirror. He didn't recognize the face that stared back at him. Gone were the curls he always tried so hard to hide. The scar on the side of his head had all but faded. He didn't like the person in the mirror. He just didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't fix it on his own. All he knew was that he couldn't look at him anymore. He reared his fist back and hit the mirror smashing it to a million pieces. He looked back up and saw his reflection in the few pieces still attached to the wall. "Shut up." Pushing back he walked out of the bathroom, closed the door, and crawled into bed pulling the covered over his head.

* * *

Tony walked into Peter's pitch black room. "FRIDAY, lights at 2%". The last thing he wanted to do was wake Peter but he needed to check on him. His watch wasn't transmitting his vitals. He figured Peter hadn't put it back on after taking a shower earlier today. He glanced up at the ceiling when the lights didn't respond. "FRIDAY?" Pulling his phone out of his pocket he resorted to the flashlight. Flashing it first at the bed he caught sight of the lump he knew was Peter. Crossing the room he sat gently on the bed. Peter had the covers pulled over his head, fingers clasped around the edges of the comforter. He glanced over at the nightstand and picked up the watch. Sliding the band around Peter's wrist he fastened it and waited for the bio-metric data to show up on his own watch. He then glanced down at the hand that was still clinched around the covers. He could see red streaks across Peter's knuckles. He gently touched the healing cuts. Any other time Peter would have jerked awake. Hell, any other time Peter would have woken up the second Tony had entered the room. He flashed the light to the corners of the room where FRIDAY'S sensors were. Large holes were punched into the ceiling, wiring hanging out. Tony looked back down at Peter's hand. Drywall wouldn't have caused the damage that was slowly healing on Peter's hand. Standing up he walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Turning on the light he immediately knew where the cuts had come from. Shards from the bathroom mirror littered the floor. A pill bottle caught his eye, laying in the corner of the room. Picking it up, he knew instantly from the weight it was empty. Sliding it into his pocket he glanced down at his watch again to make sure Peter's bio-metric data was transmitting. Turning off the light he opened the bathroom door and walked back over to the bed. Tugging the covers down he looked at Peter's sleeping face. He had seen Peter asleep enough to know when he was okay. He was far from ok. His face was tightened in what Tony could only describe as anguish.

* * *

Clint paused as he was passing one of the corridors. Backing up, he saw Tony sitting on the floor, back against the wall outside of the MedBay. Frowning, he made his way down the hall until he was standing next to Tony and slid down the wall until he was seated next to him.

Tony held the pill bottle up. "Where do you lock up pills when the person you're hiding them from is strong enough to break through all of your options."

Clint took the bottle out of Tony's hand. "How many did he take."

"Well, that bottle had 50 pills in it Sunday. It's Wednesday." Tony pushed his head back against the wall.

Clint whistled. "Where is he now?"

"Asleep". Tony held up his watch. "I'm monitoring his biometrics." He rubbed his hand over his face. "Oh, he also tore FRIDAY out of his room."

Clint sat in silence next to his friend. He had no words of wisdom, one father to another. Peter was a mess. They all knew it. None of them knew what to do about it. And Clint knew it was killing Tony. Breaking the silence he looked over at Tony. "You remove him from the temptation."

"Yeah, I've thought of that. Short of buying a deserted island I can't figure out where to go that is low sensory enough where he won't have a problem."

Clint leaned forward. "I have the perfect place. When I was under house arrest, Laura got tired of me being in the house. So I built a cabin."

Tony looked over at Clint. "You built a cabin?"

Clint grinned. "It's not the Four Seasons but it's got a kitchen, two bedrooms, indoor plumbing. And if Spider-Kid trashes it I know you're good for the repairs." Clint could tell Tony was still skeptical. "Look, it's a couple miles from the main house so I'll be close enough if you need help but if he wants to yell and hit things the only things that will hear him will be the deer." Clint waited for Tony to take in what he was saying. "He needs to decompress. His senses are all over the place. You've said it's the one aspect of the spider he has the most problems with. His nervous system took a big hit. He need quiet and he needs you."

Tony leaned back against the wall again. He had plenty of self doubt as to whether he was enough to help Peter through this. But he also knew he had to do something


	43. Chapter 43 - Somewhere I Belong

Peter walked up the ramp of the jet. Mr Stark was being weird. He couldn't figure it out. But then again, he had been asleep for 24 hours and was still a little groggy. He had hoped he would feel better, and he did, a little. But he had no idea where they were going. He and Mr. Stark had eaten breakfast, although maybe it was more like brunch. Unless he actually looked at his watch he really didn't know what time of day it was anymore. After they had finished eating Mr. Stark had taken him to the hanger.

Sitting in one of the seats, Peter watched Mr. Stark checked the cockpit and returned to the cabin. He sat in the seat across from Peter. "Happy's not flying?"

"Nope, just you and me kid." Tony studied Peter. He hoped he was doing the right thing.

"Where are we going?" Peter looked out the window as the plane took off. Other than the Quinjet, flying to Germany on one of Mr. Stark's other planes was really the only other time he had flown. It was fun to watch the runway speed by and then feel the drop in his stomach as they lifted off.

"We are getting a change of scenery. Thought it might do both of us some good." Tony continued watching Peter look out the window. Right now Peter looked like the kid Tony knew he was. The one he was hoping to find on this trip. He missed hanging out with him and he had figured out quickly that he hated fighting with him.

Peter pulled his gaze away from the window. "You didn't answer the question. Where are we going?"

"Missouri."

Peter stared at Mr. Stark. Missouri was not the answer he was expecting. "What's in Missouri?"

"Hopefully a whole lot of nothingness." Tony leaned forward. "You need a reset. Away from everything."

Peter looked down and pursed his lips. He didn't know how to respond. He knew Mr. Stark wanted what was best for him and he knew he hadn't been the easiest to be around lately. He could also feel himself getting frustrated at being treated like a child. "So what, you're putting me in time out? In Missouri?"

"Pete, you've got to work with me at least a little."

Peter turned and stared out the window. He had an hour of uncomfortable silence until they landed at his prison for the week.

* * *

Tony waited for Peter to walk down the ramp. He was more than a little worried that he would have just stayed in the seat and refused to budge if he hadn't. Steve, Sam, Bucky, and Natasha had stocked the cabin while Peter had slept everything off. They had also put in some security measures. Tony really didn't know what to expect with Peter. And that thought almost broke him.

Peter stopped halfway between the plane and the cabin and turned to look at Mr. Stark.

"It's Clint's. He owns about 100 acres. The main house is a couple miles away." Tony couldn't tell what was going through Peter's head. He turned and watched the jet take off leaving the two of them alone in an expanse if nothing but fields, some trees, and a cabin. He walked past Peter and up the stairs of the cabin. Pushing open the door he walked inside.

Peter trudged up the stairs and followed Mr. Stark into the cabin shutting the door behind him.

Tony poked his head into all of the rooms. Looking back he pointed Peter toward the room where the rest of the team had deposited his bags. Tony found his own bag on the bed with a note from Natasha on top. _Good Luck. Let us know if you need anything._

Tony explored the rest of the cabin, small as it was. Peter had entered his bedroom and had not come back out. A couple hours after they had gotten there Tony started dinner. He was determined by the end of the week Peter would be back on a normal schedule.

Tony thought it would have been harder to get Peter out of the bedroom to eat dinner but the kid surprised him and came out as Tony was dishing food out on plates. And dinner wasn't a horrible experience. Peter actually carried on a conversation which surprised the hell out of Tony.

Peter sat back down after cleaning up the dishes. Mr. Stark couldn't accuse him of not making an effort. He looked at his mentor and tried to figure out what his plan was.

Tony could see the wheels turning in Peter's head. He didn't know what to expect. Tony thought they should get the rough part out of the way so they could move forward. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the empty pill bottle and set it on the table.

Peter took one look at the bottle on the table, pushed his chair back and retreated to his bedroom.

* * *

Tony startled awake and felt Peter more than saw or heard him. He had a vague though of some comedy he had seen where the kids crept into the parents room and stood by the parents' bed, scaring the crap out of them when they woke up. "Pete? What's wrong." Tony started to get up but paused when he realized Peter was sitting on the floor leaning against the bed.

"Don't. Just let me talk." Peter wrapped his arms around his knees and he felt Mr. Stark relax back on the bed behind him. "You know, everyone has always asked me why I call you Mr. Stark. Why I don't call you Tony." Peter paused, trying to work up to what he wanted to say. "If I call you Tony...". Peter's voice caught a little bit, "If I call you Tony it means that you're more than just my mentor. And if you're more than just my mentor...". Peter wiped a stray tear from his cheek. "I don't think I could handle losing you. It would break me. So you've stayed Mr. Stark." Peter sucked in a breath and almost laughed, "But, it turns out I'm already broken." Putting his head on his arms he whispered "I can't do this by myself. I don't know how to get better."

Tony took a deep breath and tried to piece together what Peter was saying. He sat up and slid down to the floor next to Peter. Wrapping an arm around his shoulder he pulled him closer. "Pete, you don't have to do any of this alone. Ever. I'd offer to give up Iron Man but I think recent events have illustrated that the superhero life isn't the only danger." He felt Peter shift next to him. "You may be a little bit broken right now but, honestly, who isn't. You don't have to do any if it by yourself. We can get you better. Together." Tony thought through everything Peter had unloaded. A couple things were starting to make sense. Peter's sensory issues lately generally started when he got frustrated. The worse he felt the more frustrated he got. He had spiraled completely out of control in the last week. He got frustrated because he wouldn't let anyone help him. Tony thought it was just Peter's independent streak and that it came from trying to prove he could keep up with the adults. He was so wrong. He knew Peter had issues with his uncles' death and had known that Peter had seen him as a father figure. Tony knew that he had slipped into the role despite neither of them intending for it to happen. Tony realized it was exactly where he wanted to be. Where he should be. Where he belonged. And maybe Pete was starting to realize it too.


	44. Chapter 44 - Cabin in the Woods

Tony finally convinced Peter to move from the bedroom floor to the living room. They talked, really talked, most of the night. So much for getting the kid back on a schedule. But, Tony wouldn't have traded it for anything. He remembered Peter falling asleep on the couch. Tony woke up in the chair in the living room so he logically reasoned he probably fell asleep shortly after. His eyes immediately went to the last place he saw Peter. The blanket Peter had curled up with had been tossed over the back of the couch. Tony's eyes darted around the small room. "Pete?" Panic set in. He glanced at his watch. One of the security measured Nat had put into place was an alarm to his watch if someone broke the plane of the bottom step. No notification but then again, Peter didn't have to leave from the steps. He was perfectly capable of leaving via a window as well. He glanced down at his watch again as a message from Peter appeared. "On the porch". Relief spread through Tony as he crossed the short distance to the front door and opened it. "What are you doing?"

"Shush...Tony, you're going to scare them off."

In all honesty, Tony didn't hear anything after his name. He looked over at the figure sitting in a rocking chair with his feet propped up on the railing. He finally looked where Peter was pointing and saw a doe with two fawns in the field near the tree line. He looked from the deer back to Peter who was watching them with a youthful amazement. Tony walked over to the chair next to Peter and sat down.

"There are a couple rabbits about 50 yards that way that keep poking their heads out of the brush."

Tony looked to where Peter indicated just in time to see a brown rabbit hop from one side of the brush to the other. "It's a little different than the city isn't it? How long have you been up?"

Peter glanced down at his watch. "6ish".

Tony glanced down at his own watch. It was 8am now. "I'm going to make some coffee. Do you want anything?"

Peter turned and looked at Tony, "Did you bring any hot chocolate?"

"Of course I did." Tony stood up and headed back to the front door. He glanced back at Peter who had gone back to watching the deer eating. He was amazed that the kid was so mesmerized by deer, but it was definitely different than what he was used to. The last time Tony was at the Barton farm he had realized how peaceful it was. The long forgotten idea of building Pepper a farm and retiring popped back in his head. Life had gone from one disaster to another since then that he hadn't given the idea of a farm any more thought, but now it appealed to him even more. Somewhere Pepper could unwind and relax. Somewhere he could disappear to. And somewhere Pete could decompress. He opened the front door and stepped back inside as images ran through his brain of a cabin by a lake surrounded by woods. Miles away from everyone and everything.

* * *

Peter glanced up as Tony handed him a mug of hot chocolate. It had become his equivalent of coffee that everyone he knew with the exception of Ned drank and he personally hated. "Thanks".

Tony sat back down in the chair next to Peter. "How are you feeling?"

Peter shrugged. "Ok. I woke up because my arm started stinging, but I think I just slept on it wrong. It stopped when I got up and started moving around."

"You should have gotten me up." Tony took a sip of his coffee. Even though last night had been a monumental breakthrough he wasn't naive enough to think there wasn't still work to be done.

Peter looked at Tony. "I would have if it hadn't stopped."

Tony knew the kid was trying. He was pleasantly surprised that in the light of day Pete hadn't put back up some of the wall they had torn down last night. "Breakfast should be ready in about 20 minutes."

After a while, Peter dropped his feet off the railing and shifted to look at Tony. "This was a good idea. It's quiet out here. I can see why Clint and his family live here."

"We didn't even know about it until we crashed here during the Ultron mess. There's something peaceful about being so far away from everything. I remember thinking at the time I should build Pepper a farm and give her a place to unwind. It went by the wayside with everything that came after, but being here is making me want to start looking at property." Tony stared out at the tree line then smiled and looked at Peter. "Of course you and I are going to need a little more technology available to us than what Clint has. Maybe a couple labs. You can help design everything." Tony's watch beeped. "Breakfast is ready. Come on." Tony stood up and headed back inside.

Peter smiled to himself and stood up. There was something comforting in the idea that Mr. Stark, no, he corrected himself, Tony's plans for the future included him. "What's for breakfast?"

"Some breakfast casserole from a place Pepper likes. I had a lot of planning to do in the 24 hours you slept. I went with the easiest options." Tony reached into the oven and pulled out the baking dish and set it on the stove. He filled up a plate for Peter and set it in front of him before fixing his own plate. "So how is it?"

Peter looked up with a forkful in his mouth. He nodded and swallowed. "It's good." Not eating great for almost two weeks had caught up with him and he was starving.

Tony laughed. "Eat spiderling. Your jeans are falling off of you. Pepper would have pitched a fit if she saw the way you look."

Peter was on his second plate when his hand started to tighten up. He dropped his fork awkwardly and flexed his hand which caused the nerve endings in his hand to flame up his arm. "Damn it." Standing he started pacing and rubbing his arm.

Tony stood up "Come here Underoos." Peter stopped in front of him. Tony wrapped both hands around Peter's arm and without squeezing too hard he applied even pressure. "Any better?"

"That's weird. It hurts but it's different. Better." Peter relaxed his arm a little. Every time the nerves flared up it sent his entire body into a tight ball of tension. Whatever Tony was doing was stopping him from tensing up.

"When you had the sensory issues a month or two ago you kept pushing my hand down on your shoulder on the way back to the compound. It reminded me that when you freaked out after the aliens..."

"I didn't freak out." Peter's tone was indignant even though he knew he had totally freaked out.

Tony got an amused look on his face, "you calmed down when I pressed down on your shoulders. I asked May about it and she said you've always preferred firmer pressure to lighter." Tony chuckled, "She told me a story from right after you came to live with her and Ben. It took them almost two weeks to figure out that you weren't going to sleep because she had been just lightly brushing her fingers over your back and you kept squirming. So apparently it's not so much spider related but Peter related." Tony noticed that Peter's mood shifted at the mention of May. "Is your arm calming down?" He waited for Peter to sit back down in his chair. "Talk to me kid."

Peter took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to verbalize everything that just started swirling around in his head. "May can't walk. Can't work. I don't know what to do with that, how to even start figuring out what that means." He looked up at Tony, who had made it abundantly clear last night that he wasn't going anywhere. But insecurity hit him like a tidal wave.

"Let's start with the basics." Tony waiting until he was sure Peter wasn't lost in his own head and was actually listening to what he was saying. "Pepper and I have temporary custody of you. Considering I effectively kidnapped you from the hospital Pepper did a masterful job of getting the legal aspects worked out. When May woke up she agreed 100% that it was the right move. All May, Pepper, and I want is to make sure you're taken care of." He waited for Peter's nod that he understood. "May's injury is similar to Rhodey's. Between the research that we put into trying to get Rhodey straightened out and Dr. Strange's input, her prognosis is 50/50 on being able to walk without the assistance of braces like Rhodey's."

Peter couldn't help but to stiffen at hearing it out loud. "I should have been able..."

"No."

Peter almost jumped at the tone in Tony's voice. "But..."

"Peter, she would be dead if you hadn't done what you did. It's simple physics. You tried to stop a moving vehicle with no leverage. Even if you were twice as strong you couldn't have stopped it. Hell, the Iron Man armor wouldn't have been able to stop it without leverage. I know you understand the math behind it." Tony took a deep breath because he realized how important it was that Peter believe this what he was saying. "You took the brunt of the impact. There was absolutely nothing you could have done differently to change what happened. You saved her life. You need to understand that."

Peter looked down. "It wasn't enough."

"It was enough to save her and that's all that matters." Tony leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "Look at me." He waited for Peter to bring his eyes up to meet his. "It's a really hard thing to accept that you can't keep everyone safe but I need you to understand. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I made. I wanted to keep everyone safe so I created Ultron. I think you know how that one turned out."

Peter looked down again. "I don't like that option."

"And you shouldn't. Not liking the option means you keep trying. You keep fighting. You keep coming up with better strategies. But you don't let the outcome cripple you either. Finding the balance is the worst part of this life. And I'll be honest, none of us have figured it out. But I don't want you so focused on what you see as a failure that it destroys you. Focus on the fact that May is alive."

Peter rolled Tony's words around in his head. May was alive. He was still wrapping his head around the rest of it.

Tony knew this was not something that Peter was going get, at least not now. And that was probably ok with that as long as he wasn't beating himself up over it. "May's alive. There are some surgical options and lots of therapy options." Tony paused. He and May had talked about the future but he realized that Peter should have been involved in those conversations. Of course, when he and May were having these conversations Peter was in no shape to be an active participant. "I proposed that Pepper and I move back to the city and you and she would move in with us. She was not opposed to the idea." When Tony had proposed the idea, her immediate reaction had been no. The longer they talked about it she had understood that it was really the best idea for Peter. "It would be easier to arrange her medical needs in a building I own as opposed to trying to make something work elsewhere."

Peter could barely comprehend what Tony was saying. He was willing to move to accommodate Peter and May. It was mind boggling. "You'd move back to the city?"

"As nice as it is to be away from the craziness of the city I kind of miss it. Plus if we build our own cabin we can get away any time. You wouldn't have to travel so far. I was thinking a high rise by the river. There are a couple that have great views. You can swing back to Queens pretty easily. What do you think?"

"You'd move back to the city. May and I would live with you and Pepper." Peter was wondering if his brain hadn't short circuited a little.

Tony stood up and grabbed both plates and took them to the kitchen. "Yes. Do you want to see some of the building we're looking at?"

Peter nodded and followed Tony over to the couch where they spent most of the morning looking at real estate in Manhattan and upstate New York. After the second time Peter's nerve endings triggered Tony sent him to take a nap. Which he actually did much to Tony's amazement.


	45. Chapter 45 - The Depths of Hell

As great as most of the week was, it wasn't free from some colossal plummets into what Tony was considering the depths of hell. He was lulled into a false sense of security after two relatively good days. Peter was eating and getting back on a normal schedule. The nerve issues were few and far between. Little did Tony know that apparently they were just saving up and planning on leveling Peter in one fell swoop. At 2am. Tony almost fell out of bed when Peter cried out. Tony skidded into his room and found Peter on his hands and knees next to his bed.

"It won't stop." Peter ground out between pants of breath.

Tony crouched on his knees in front of Peter. He could see how tense Peter's muscles were. He reached down and grabbed both arms only to have them yanked out of his reach. "Pete, come on, let me help."

"It hurts." Peter rolled back onto the balls of his feet and wrapped his arms around his knees, pressing his arms into his knees.

"I know. Let me help." Tony inched closer and put his hands out. "Let me help." He watched Peter dip his head onto his knees and he took the opportunity to wrap his hands around Peter's forearms. He could feel how tight the muscles were underneath his fingers. On top of nerve pain, the stress this was putting Pete's muscles through had to be excruciating. Peter wasn't pulling away but he was screaming and crying. Something Tony realized in that moment he would give anything to stop. Keeping his hands wrapped around Peter's forearms he felt the muscle spasms. If he could get Peter calmed down he could do something to help the muscles. But there was no way he could leave him even if was just for a minute to get something hot to wrap around his forearms.

"I can't do this. It hurts." Peter's voice was raw from screaming.

"You can do it. It'll stop soon. It always does. Focus on me. My voice." Brown, swollen eyes peered at him. Tony could hear Peter trying to get his breathing under control. He knew he needed a distraction to get Peter to stop thinking about how much it hurt. "So I think your secret visits to the Children's Hospital are no longer secret. When you were unconscious Bucky took Steve. Made him wear the uniform and take the shield. Bucky didn't want the kids to be disappointed because you weren't there so you really can't blame him for busting you with Steve. But funny thing, Steve, like Bucky loves it." Tony could hear Peter's breathing turn a little less erratic. "Somehow Natasha found out because she cornered the two of them the next time they went and insisted on going with them. Saturday's are now becoming 'Avenger Saturdays'. But to hear Bucky talk, the kids really miss seeing Spider-Man. Black Widow, Captain America, and the Winter Soldier can't do flips like you can." Peter's muscles were still contracted but his breathing was almost even. "You with me Pete?" He got a small nod in return. "Are your nerves still firing?"

Peter shook his head. Everything just hurt.

"Ok, your muscles are completely cramped. I want to get some hot towels to wrap around your arms and I want to get you some Gatorade. To do that I have to let go and I need to leave just for a minute." The brown eyes staring at him widened. "I don't have to do it now. I'm right here." Tony looked around the room. He wanted to get Peter off the balls of his feet. If his calf's weren't cramping yet they would be soon. They were closest to the bed. "I want to get you off the floor, ok? The bed is next to us. On the count of three we're getting up."

Somehow Tony maneuvered Peter back into bed. Peter pressed his back against the headboard and drew his knees up to his chest again. Tony still had his hands wrapped around Peter's forearms. He watched Peter struggle to get his breathing under control again. Once it was, the brown eyes opened again and found Tony's.

"This sucks."

Tony chuckled. "Definitely. Do you want me to try to get you some Gatorade now?"

"No, but it would probably help wouldn't it."

Tony found it encouraging that Peter was starting to string more than a couple words together. "One minute tops."

Peter nodded and Tony released his forearms. Peter clinched his eyes shut against the pain the vacated pressure produced. He felt Tony get off the bed. He wasn't sure if it was one minute or ten. His arms hurt, then he felt something warm wrapped around them.

"I can come up with something a little better when we get home. For now this is going to have to do." Tony tightened the wet towel around Peter's arm. He hoped he hadn't made it too hot. Peter actually looked better as the heat seeped into the muscle. He repeated it on the other arm then sat back and waited for Peter to give him feedback.

"That's...so much better." Peter sighed as the warmth started to loosen the muscles. He opened his eyes and saw Tony staring at him. "Thanks."

Tony picked up the Gatorade off the nightstand. "Here, I brought straws too." He held it in front of Peter and waited for him to take a sip.

Peter drank half the Gatorade and leaned his head back against the headboard and shut his eyes. "I want this to stop."

Tony hated how exhausted Peter looked. How the pain he felt in his arms was etched into his face. "I know. We'll get Strange to look at you when we get home."

"He's just going to tell me to give my body time to heal. It never takes this long. Even after the Vulture I was fine a couple days later. All of the burns and broken bones...two days. I slept for two days and woke up fine. Just give me something to knock me out until this goes away." Peter opened his eyes and looked at Tony, silently pleading for relief.

"I don't know why this is taking longer but I think you already tried the 'let me sleep route' and it didn't work out too great, did it." Tony really didn't want to have this conversation right now, not when Peter felt so bad.

Peter clinched his jaw and turned his head to stare at the wall. His eyes were already swollen from crying and he didn't want to start again.

Tony looked at the teen sitting in front of him and saw too much of himself. While Peter's metabolism would probably never let him become the drunk Tony had been and it would probably never let drugs be a life threatening situation, the underlying reasons Tony had turned to drugs and alcohol were rearing their head with Peter. The escapism and the need to feel numb were staring him in the face. The only thing not there was the desire to lash out at a father that wanted nothing to do with him. But Peter had his own ghosts when it came to father figures. They had started putting those to rest earlier this week but it was going to take time to get rid of them entirely. "You once told me you just wanted to be like me. Right now I'm absolutely terrified because you are so much like me. The good and the bad. It's the bad that has me worried. You're stronger than this, stronger than I was. You don't need an escape. You're strong enough to do this because you aren't doing it alone. If I have to sit here and hold your arms all night until they stop cramping that's what I'll do. And when the next thing comes up we'll face that together too." Tony reached down and unwrapped the cooled towels from Peter's arms and started massaging the muscles. They felt looser, not quite as knotted. "Pete I meant what I said that I want you to be better than me. Not a better superhero but a better person. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did. You already have so many qualities that are inherently better than me. Let me help you make sure you're not dragged down by the not so good qualities."

Peter turned his head and looked at Tony. He blinked away the tears that were threatening to start falling and simply nodded


	46. Chapter 46 - Going Home

The rest of the week was moderately better. No more middle of the night flare ups. The times they hit now weren't nearly as bad. Neither one of them was convinced they were over but they took solace in the fact that they weren't as bad. Tony would have stayed at the cabin another week if that's what Peter needed. He would have stayed a month if they needed to, but Peter was the one that made the decision that he thought he would be ok at the compound.

FRIDAY landed the jet in the same clearing. Bags slung over shoulders they both boarded the jet and settled in for the somewhat short flight back. There was no awkward silence this time. Much to Tony's delight Peter talked the entire way home. He had missed Peter's nonstop chatter and he definitely took it as a sign that he was on the way back.

The jet landed and they walked down the ramp. Pepper was waiting for them in the hanger. She stopped in front of Peter, hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek. "How are you?"

Peter blushed a little at the attention, "I'm ok."

Tony sat his bag down and watched Pepper give Peter a once over. He had put a little weight back on but was still skinnier than he needed to be. Pepper finally turned toward Tony. "I'm glad you two are back. It's been quiet without you both here."

"Tony, I'm going to head upstairs." Peter shifted his bag on his shoulder. He saw the scrutinizing look Tony was giving him. "I'm good. I just want to text MJ and Ned." Because he was focused on Tony he missed the look on Pepper's face.

"Ok, we'll be up in a few minutes." Tony watched Peter walk out of the hanger and head toward the elevator.

Pepper wrapped her arms around him. "He called you Tony! Did you have a good week?"

Tony picked up his bag and put his arm around Pepper's shoulder. "It was a week spent moving in the right direction. Some good. Some bad. But he's closer to being back than he was before."

"That's all that matters." They headed toward the elevator, "Physically how is he?"

"Still having some nerve related flare ups. I think those are probably fine and manageable. They're causing his muscles to cramp which is what I'm more worried about. I'm going to get Helen to do an MRI of his arms in the morning and then we'll get Strange to take a look too." They stepped into the elevator and it headed up to their floor. Tony leaned over and kissed Pepper. "I missed you."

* * *

Peter decided that he didn't like MRI's and that he wasn't a fan of doctors at this point either. The MRI showed that his muscles weren't completely healed but according to Dr. Cho and the orthopedist she brought in, there wasn't anything to be worried about. Dr. Strange spent entirely too long testing nerve responses in his arms and came to the conclusion that the nerves were more than likely almost healed as well. And then he and Tony launched into a lengthy discussion about whether or not electro stimulation or ultrasounds would be useful that Peter only halfway paid attention to. He understood why Tony was concerned about the electro stimulation. While they didn't fully understand his stickiness they knew he could control it like he could the nanotech meaning it somehow responded to brain waves which were really just electrical impulses. They hadn't found anything he couldn't stick to and conditions didn't really affect it either. It was pretty simple to draw the conclusion that they were somehow electrical related. His suits had dampeners as a precaution. He had never been hit with an electrical burst so they didn't know how he would react and Tony really didn't want to test it to find out. Bouncing his leg he looked between Tony and Dr. Strange. "What you're both getting to is that I just need to suck it up and give it time."

Dr. Strange smirked, "Unfortunately yes. I think you may find it helpful to get on a schedule of applying heat to the muscles in your arms so if the nerves flare up they're already relaxed enough where they won't cramp too badly. Then compression and massage if they do cramp up. I wish I could give you a timeline but you are...unique."

Peter looked at Tony with a resigned look on his face. "I don't think I like 'unique' any better than I liked 'inhuman'"

Tony sighed "Thanks Stephen. At least we can rule out any issues?" He looked at Strange for confirmation.

"I believe everything is healing the way it's supposed to. Just have some patience."

Tony and Peter headed toward the door. "You obviously don't see many 15 year olds. 'Patience' is not in their vocabulary."

Tony and Peter headed toward the elevator. Once there, Tony had FRIDAY let them off on the Avenger floor. In response to the questioning look on Peter's face Tony smiled, "Just because you're not cleared to do much of anything doesn't mean you can't listen in on a debrief. They've been taking out Hydra manufacturing labs." Tony looked at the grin on Peter's face and couldn't help teasing him a little. "I mean, we can go back upstairs if you would prefer."

"No!" Peter walked ahead of Tony and headed to the command center.

Steve smiled when Peter walked into the command center. FRIDAY had let them know that Tony and Peter were on their way up from MedBay. "Hey Queens."

Bucky pushed the chair next to him back to allow Peter to slide in. Tony grabbed the chair next to Peter. He couldn't help but to smile at the look on Peter's face. Just being in the room with the rest of the team erased the frustration he had from the morning spent being poked and prodded just to be told to have patience with the healing process.

Steve pulled up a map showing all the locations they had hit in the last month. "We think we may have gotten everything in the US. No new intel has shown up in the last week. There are a couple more that are cropping up worldwide. T'challa is assisting on everything in Africa and Asia. We're focusing on Europe and South America."

Wanda leaned forward. "Where do we stand on the alternative options for the ones hit with Terrigen?"

"We met with someone who is able to not only locate but give them a options. He has his own 'abilities' and has made it his life's mission to offer sanctuary and assistance to anyone with mutated DNA." Steve looked at Tony to see if he had anything additional to offer.

"Unlike Hydra and unfortunately Shield sometimes, he doesn't force them to accept what he's offering. Which means we will end up with people with newly found powers that they have no idea how to control out on their own. It's a different world now." Tony knew it wasn't really he answer Wanda wanted but he wasn't sure if any answer would have made her happy. "The ones that accept his offer are taken to a school he runs that's actually not too far from here. For the younger ones, on top of teaching them to control their powers they're getting an education. For the older ones the focus is on control. Wanda, he's extended an open invitation for any of us to visit. If you want to check it out you're more than welcome to."

Wanda looked down. She knew first hand what it felt like to have powers you didn't know how to control. It had taken her a while to be able to manage her own. She also knew what it was like to be used for your powers. "I'd like to meet him and check out this school."

"Anyone else want to go? We can make a field trip out of it." Tony smirked when most of the team raised their hands. He wasn't necessarily surprised by the ones who didn't. He would have assumed that Bucky, Clint, and Rhodey wouldn't have wanted to go. He knew Peter hadn't raised his hand either. He wouldn't have let him go anyway just as a safeguard to his identity but he would have thought he would have been curious. He'd figure it out later.

* * *

Debrief completed, Tony and Peter headed back up to their floor. Tony wanted Peter to try Dr. Strange's suggestion about relaxing the muscles. He parked Peter on the couch and put in a movie while he had heating pads wrapped around his arms. Tony wasn't surprised when Peter fell asleep half way through. He knew he still needed to catch up on sleep. Plus, May was on her way back from a doctor's consultation in Germany so they were planning on having a "family" dinner that included just himself, Peter, Pepper, May, and Happy. He realized that his definition of family had taken a turn somewhere and he couldn't be happier.


	47. Chapter 47 - Driving Lessons

"It's only been 10 days since the last time your nerve endings flared up." Tony crossed his arms and stared at the kid in front of him who was pushing every boundary he had right now.

"Yes, but it didn't last as long and my muscles didn't cramp. I'm not talking about swinging through Manhattan. I'm talking about going in the gym and swinging from the rafters." Peter didn't think he had a chance in hell of this working but he was desperate to do something. Anything.

"No." Pepper didn't even look up from her coffee.

"But...". Peter started.

"No"

Tony had to hide the smile that threatened to creep across his face. It was nice to hear Pepper use the "tone" with someone other than him.

"But..."

Tony had to give the kid credit for persistence. He usually gave up after the second 'No'.

"Peter. You need to ease back into using your arms like that. There is a ton of equipment set up in the gyms. Find something that isn't 40 feet off the ground. Do you really want to find yourself back in MedBay just because you rushed it and your arms cramped mid swing?"

"No ma'am." Peter knew they were both right but he missed swinging. He missed being active. He had been running a couple times with Steve but even having someone who could run as fast as he could didn't get enough of the energy out. And he was bored.

"Come on kid. I've got an idea." Tony hated the dejected tone in Peter's voice.

Peter followed Tony into the elevator and out into the parking garage. Tony stopped in front of one of the cars and threw the keys to Peter. "Get in."

"What?" Peter had not expected them to end up in the parking garage much less being handed keys to a car.

"You turn 16 in two months. From what I've seen you have zero idea how to drive. So we're going to learn." Tony opened the passenger side and got in.

Peter stood outside of the car staring at the keys in his hand. Tony was right. He had no idea how to drive. Opening the door he got behind the wheel. His brain shut down. He literally had no idea what to do.

"Push ignition. Unless you're driving one of the classic cars all you have to do is put your foot on the brake and push the button."

Peter dropped the keys in the center console, put his foot on the brake and pushed the button. The engine purred and the dashboard lit up. He turned to look at Tony expectantly. "Just assume that I have no idea what to do."

Tony shook his head and started running through various buttons on the steering wheel and dashboard. It took about five minutes before they were ready to back out. "Shift into reverse. There's a backup camera but I don't want you to rely on it. Check all of your mirrors, physically turn and look, and then double check the backup camera to make sure you're clear."

Peter followed Tony's directions and slowly backed out of the parking space. He looked over at Tony expectantly and received a sigh in return.

"If you think you have enough clearance, shift into drive and let's go."

Peter took a painstaking amount of time to actually get out of the parking deck. A little less time to get on the main road. Thirty minutes into it and Peter was feeling somewhat successful that he hadn't hit anything. "This is much less stressful than the last time I drove."

Tony laughed. "I've seen the video, remember. Once you've got a year or two under your belt we'll get Natasha or Bucky to teach you defensive driving."

Peter was actually enjoying his impromptu driving lesson. They spent about an hour driving the roads around the compound. Tony had successfully taken his mind off not being able to swing. He pulled into the parking deck and found a parking space well away from all of the other cars.

"That was fun. Thanks for taking me." Peter handed the keys back to Tony.

"We'll try to drive for at least a little while every day. It's the only way you're going to get used to it."

They both stopped short when the elevators door opened. Happy and May exited. Happy had May's arm looped through his. She had only had the braces for about two weeks and was just about as awkward as Rhodey was when he first got his.

"Peter! Tony! What have you two been up to?" May stopped but didn't let go of Happy's arm.

"Tony took me driving!" Peter gave his aunt a kiss on the cheek. "Where are you going?"

"I have a therapy appointment in the city. We thought it would be better to go out than to have them come here all the time. Then I think we're going to try to go to dinner if it doesn't wear me out."

"I thought we'd go to that Italian place you like." Happy piped up.

Peter stepped back and let his aunt and Happy pass. Peter and Tony could hear laughter as they got to Happy's car. They turned to look at each other with a questioning look. "I don't think I've ever heard Happy laugh." Peter frowned as they watched Happy and May pull out of the deck.

"He laughs. Just not that often." Tony opened his mouth to say something but shut it again and stared after Happy's disappearing car. "Come on, lets go to the gym and figure out what you can do that won't kill you."

Peter watched the car a little bit longer. "Yeah. Gym." Happy and May were going to dinner. And Happy was laughing. "That was weird, right?"

Tony looked back at him. "I'm sure it's fine. They're adults. Happy is driving her to therapy. Then they're eating. Adults have to eat too." He paused. "It's fine."

* * *

Natasha walked into the gym and stopped next to Tony. "Is he allowed to be doing that?"

Tony looked over at her. "He tried to convince us to let him swing from the rafters. He's only about 5 feet off the ground. Dr. Cho made the mistake of telling him that if he went a week without his nerve flaring up he could start testing his arms. He took that to mean he could go out as Spider-Man again. It's been three days of continual pushing to see what we'd let him get away with. Pepper has been able to pretty much shut him down every time but he is right in that he needs to start testing his arms. So, we compromised."

"How is that a compromise?" Natasha frowned as Peter held himself up on a pair of gymnastic rings then flipped and caught them again, pulling himself back up.

"Have you seen what he does when he swings? Yes, this is a compromise." He raised his voice to yell at Peter. "You're done in 2 minutes."

* * *

Dr. Strange felt Peter's arms. He had spent the last thirty minutes testing his reflexes and nerve responses. "It's been 2 weeks since you have any problems? No nerve pain? No numbness? No muscle cramps?"

"15 days to be exact. No pain, no numbness, no muscle cramps. No issues at all." Peter grinned at the two doctors in front of him. "So am I cleared?"

Dr. Cho looked at Dr. Strange who nodded. "You are cleared to swing. In the gym. Not in the city. If you go a week without an incident we can talk. You are not cleared for anything Avenger related. Before you throw yourself into anything life threatening you need to be clear for 1 full month."

"But I can start swinging again, right?" Peter popped out of the chair he was sitting in.

"In the gym." Dr. Cho looked over at Tony. "You do have something in his suit to monitor him, right?"

Tony nodded and watched Peter dart out of the room. He was pretty sure the web shooters were already formed around Peter's wrists by the time he had gotten into the hallway. "Thanks. Here's hoping we're not back down here in an hour."


	48. Chapter 48 - Tuna Salad

_"I hope we have tuna salad tomorrow. You know how much I love it."_

Peter stared at the message from Ned. Swallowing, he thought about what his response should be. Settling on simple he started his response.

_"I haven't had tuna salad in ages. Maybe I'll see if we can have it tomorrow too. We had pizza, pepperoni, no peppers."_

Peter cringed. It was a terrible response but he needed to wrap this up and try to glean some info.

_"Pepperoni is awesome. Definitely no peppers. Gotta go, talk tomorrow"_

"FRIDAY, tell Tony I'm headed his way. It's an emergency. And tell Pepper I'm sorry. Oh, and see if you can track Ned's cellphone?" Peter tore his door open and ran down the hall to Tony's door. Hopefully it was enough of a heads up that he wasn't interrupting anything. Almost happening once was more than enough. Tony pulled the door open as Peter skidded to a stop in front of him.

"Ned'sintroubleIneedhelp." Peter pulled the messages up and handed it to Tony.

Tony scanned the messages, "You hate tuna salad. And what's the pepperoni comment?"

"Code words. When Ned first became the 'Guy In The Chair' he thought I should have a code word in case I was ever in trouble and couldn't say 'I'm in trouble'. He came up with tuna salad because we both hate it. We thought it was innocuous enough that no one would think it was weird. Never thought he'd be the one using it. He's supposed to be at a coding camp." Leaned to look past Tony, he looked at Pepper with a chagrined look, "Pepper, sorry if I woke you up or whatever."

Pepper leaned over Tony's shoulder and smiled. "It's fine. Tony, I think the pepperoni comment is telling Peter to bring you." She saw the confusion on his face, "Pepperoni, no peppers. Pepper and Tony minus the Pepper." She smiled when Tony rolled his eyes. "You two look into it. I'll stay out of your hair. Let me know if you need anything and let me know if you leave." She kissed Tony on the cheek, then turned and pressed her hand against Peter's cheek. "He'll be ok."

Peter smiled at Pepper and watched her walk back into the bedroom. "Sorry Tony, I just didn't think I could do this on my own, plus I think it's out of state and I'm pretty sure you'd be supper pissed if I stole the Quinjet and it would take me too long to swing there...". He paused when he saw the look on Tony's face. A mixture of relief, panic, and humor. "What?"

"First of all, let's take this to the command center...better equipment than the kitchen. Second, you don't know how to fly the quinjet, although flying lessons may be a good idea...with ground rules. Third, " Tony paused, and wrapped his arm around Peter's shoulder as they headed to the command center, "I'm glad you asked for help." Pulling open the door to the command center he flipped on the lights. "FRIDAY, see if you can track Ned's cell phone."

"Peter has already initiated tracking. I'm having trouble pinpointing a location. He is somewhere in this general area." A hologram floated above the table showing eastern Pennsylvania.

"That's weird, right?" Peter looked at the map. "She should be able to track a cell phone?" He glanced over at Tony and saw the frown on his face.

"Yeah, it's weird. He's obviously getting a signal out because he texted you but there's something preventing FRIDAY from pinpointing the location." His fingers flew across the hologram sliding boxes around.

* * *

Bucky stood in the doorway of the command center, ice cream spoon in his mouth. Tony and Peter, both in pajama pants, tshirts, and socks, had holograms pulled up, both diligently working on...something. He pulled the spoon out of his mouth. "What's up guys? You look like you do when you're in the lab but you're not...in the lab."

Tony and Peter looked up at the interruption. Frowning, Tony replied, "We may have a situation. Pete got a text from his friend that made us think he's in trouble."

Peter pushed the hologram he was working on out of the way with a frustrated swish of his hand. "And we can't seem to pinpoint his cellphone's location."

Bucky, stepped closer to the map displayed over the table. "Which pretty much confirms your suspicions? How long have you been at it?"

Tony and Peter nodded in unison. Peter grumbled out "Two hours" before returning his eyes to the hologram in front of him.

"Need some help?"

Tony pushed a hologram to Bucky. "See if you see anything we missed. That's everything we can find about the camp Ned was supposed to be at and the texts from him since he's been there."

* * *

Natasha walked into the command center a couple hours later and surveyed the scene in front of her. Bucky was leaning on the table flipping through tax records on a screen? Maybe? Tony was writing code. And Peter was...pacing on the ceiling. "Did someone forget to invite me to the party?"

Tony and Bucky looked up. Peter flipped off of the ceiling and landed lightly, not even drawing a look from the other two which told Natasha they weren't making progress on whatever it was they were working on and that Peter had been on the ceiling for a while, which he tended to do when he was stuck on something or frustrated.

"Ned sent Pete a text that makes us think he's in trouble. We've been trying to trace his cell phone to locate him and it's being blocked." Tony ran his hand across his face. "I'm rewriting the algorithm to try to break past whatever is muffling the signal. Underoos is frustrated at the lack of progress and can't figure out what to do to help and refuses to go to bed."

"The fact the the signal is 'muffled' makes us think that the kid is definitely in trouble." Bucky sat back in his chair and looked up at Natasha who had stepped closer to the screen he was looking at.

"Ok, Peter, give me what you have on where we think Ned is. Bucky, show me what you've done so far. Tony, keep doing whatever it is that you're doing." Natasha grinned at Tony as she sat down next to Bucky. She and Tony has vastly different ways of looking for information. Tony relied solely on technology. She preferred a hybrid approach. So often it was the gut feeling you had when you saw something that actually led you down the path you needed to be on, although technology certainly made things easier. Peter ran through what he knew about the coding camp and the texts he had received from Ned since he'd been there. "How did he find out about the camp?"

"There was a 'summer internship/continuing education' fair at the school right after Spring Break. The school counselors set up kind of like interviews for all of the kids and matched them up with their strengths and interests." Peter flopped into a chair next to Natasha. "We already hacked into the school to see if we could get more information." He pushed a hologram up and tapped on a file that brought up the exhibitors. "That's the coding camp." Peter tapped on a name and brought up another file. Natasha looked at the name and pulled a keyboard towards her and started typing. "Who did they hook you up with?" Natasha didn't move her eyes from the screen in front of her.

"They did it when I was here recovering."

"Plus, the kid doesn't need an internship." Tony scowled not even looking up from his screen.


	49. Chapter 49 - Where's Ned

"I think I've got it narrowed down." Tony pushed a screen to Natasha and Bucky. Peter leaned between Natasha and Bucky to look at the newly formed area.

"And I think I know who's we're up against." Natasha flipped her laptop screen to the hologram next to Tony's new map.

"Ok, that's still a really big area and ...", Peter gaped at Natasha's information, "Who the hell is Lyle Getz?"

"Did you all have a pajama party last night?" Steve and Sam stepped into the room dressed in shorts and t-shirts obviously on their way to their morning run. Bucky, Natasha, Tony, and Peter still in pajama bottoms and t-shirts, or in Natasha's case a tank top.

"Yeah, you missed out on all the fun." Natasha pulled up information on Lyle Getz. "It looks like Ned may have found himself some trouble." She stood up from her chair and let Steve sit down to look at the information she had pulled up. "I'm going to grab Clint. We'll recon the area and see if we can find his location based on the narrowed down map. We'll let you know when we find it and report back on Ned's status." Steve and Tony nodded. Peter opened his mouth to object but before he could get a word out Steve cut him off. "You've been up all night, right? You're not going."

Tony grabbed Peter's arm and herded him towards the door. "Steve's right. Let Nat and Clint do some reconnaissance. When they find him we can make a plan and get to Ned. There's nothing else we can do so why don't we all grab something to eat while we wait."

Peter started to protest but again was cut off before he could get a word out. Steve looked at him almost apologetically, "It's non-optional. If you want to even think about coming with us you have to eat and get some sleep."

Tony led him to the kitchen knowing that Bucky and Sam were following behind. Peter sat down in one of the stools at the counter and watched the three men wordlessly start preparing omelets. Looking at his phone he realized it was almost 7am. Ned had mentioned earlier in the week that breakfast at the camp was at 7:30. He had been texting Peter every morning between 7:00 and 7:15. He kept his eyes on his phone waiting for a message to pop up that would tell him Ned was ok. Out of his peripheral vision he saw a mug of hot chocolate placed in front of him. On automatic pilot he picked it up and started sipping. An omelet appeared in front of him at some point, his eyes not moving from his phone. Still on autopilot he finished everything on the plate in front of him. At 7:30, breakfast eaten, hot chocolate finished, he slid his phone across the counter and looked over at Tony.

Bucky was the one that spoke. "Peter, even if he's been compromised the chances of them doing anything are very low. There's no upside. Nat and Clint will locate the facility and we'll go get him."

Peter nodded, acknowledging Bucky's statement but it didn't stop the worry.

"Kiddo, hit the couch. I'll be there in a sec."

Tony watched Peter pull himself out of the chair and move numbly to the couch. He turned to Sam and Bucky who were finishing cleaning up from breakfast. Sam looked up from dishwasher where he was putting the last plate in. "How are you going to get him to get some sleep?"

Tony grinned, "The one thing I have figured out how to do over the last year is how to get the kid to sleep. FRIDAY, initiate Sleeping Baby protocol, adjust for living room." Leaving Bucky and Sam, Tony stopped to grab a blanket off of a chair and threw it over Peter as he settled on the couch next to him. FRIDAY had already turned a movie on. Windows tinted and lights dimmed it was comfortable but not dark.

Peter nestled against Tony's side. "I know what you're doing." He glanced over at Tony. "Thanks."

Moving his arm around Peter's shoulders he ran his fingers through Peter's curls that were just now growing back. Closing his eyes he replied, "No problem Spider Kid."

* * *

Steve glanced up when Sam walked back into the command center. "Any chance they're sleeping?"

Sam nodded, "Bucky headed back to his room and Tony and Peter are asleep on the couch."

"FRIDAY, restrict access to the common area until Tony and Peter wake up."

Sam pulled over a copy of the file Steve was reviewing. "What are we looking at?"

"Lyle Getz. Former AIM operative. Former Hydra operative. Former SHIELD asset. The guy gets around. Computer genius. His SHEILD file says he has leanings towards world domination by way of artificial intelligence. Stuff that reminds me of Ultron, or an evil version of Vision. George Tarleton is another name that cropped up on some tax records of a likely spot for this camp." Steve leaned forward resting his elbows on the table waiting for Sam to finish reading.

Sam shut the file. "So this is going to be more of a brute strength attack rather than our normal disable security measures and surprise them when we're already inside?"

Steve nodded. "I doubt FRIDAY is going to be effective. It'll help when Nat and Clint can give us on the ground intel. Til then, there's not much we can do."

* * *

Images started to roll across the screen in front of Steve. Natasha and Clint had located the facility. They hadn't actually seen Ned but they had caught sight of kids the same age. FRIDAY had pulled satellite video from the past couple days and had managed to spot Ned when everyone had arrived Sunday afternoon.

"Clint remained in place and is monitoring. Security is incredibly tight and I don't think we've seen everything yet. I think we're probably looking at dual entry. Let Tony, Rhodey, and Sam make an aerial attack while the rest of us go in on foot." Natasha sat back and looked at Steve in the video screen. "We're going to have to bring SHIELD in for cleanup."

Steve gave Natasha a sarcastic smile. "Well look at the bright side. It's really remote so other than the twenty kids on the inside we don't have to worry about containment or it spilling out into a public area."

"I've asked FRIDAY to find what she can about the interior. If we can figure out where they're housed we can limit their exposure. It is a little bothersome that we haven't spotted Ned. The other kids aren't being kept inside. We've seen maybe 16 different one walking around which means Ned and three others are being kept separate."

Steve sighed. He really didn't want to have to tell Peter that piece of information. If they were being kept separate it was for a reason. "A night time assault makes sense. Go in at maybe 2am."

"Agreed. Patch me in when you're going through the briefing. I'll brief Clint in person."

Steve waiting until Natasha had disconnected before looking at Sam. "Vision and Wanda are still out of the country, aren't they?"

"Not due back for a couple days. Want me to call them?" Sam leaned back in the chair next to Steve's.

"They couldn't get here in time. The fact that Clint hasn't seen Ned is worrying me. He obviously knew something was wrong. If he got caught doing something...let's just say I'd rather get in there tonight than wait." Steve pulled up an aerial view of the facility. "Let's get a plan figured out. I want to let Tony and Peter sleep as long as possible before waking them but we're starting to get tight on time if we want to go tonight."

* * *

Steve set his shoulders and looked at Tony and Peter. "I think I know what the response is going to be but I think both of you should sit this one out."

Tony rested his hand on Peter's back, "Peter, I agree with Cap. You've only been at full strength for about a month and you're emotionally invested."

Before Peter could launch his reasons, Steve replied, "Both of you."

Tony stared at Steve, "Why would I sit out?"

Peter crossed his arms, "I'm going."

Steve shook his head, "Peter, Tony is right. You're emotionally invested. It can make anyone sloppy." With an emphasis on anyone, Steve met Tony's eyes.

"No. First off, I have been cleared by Dr. Cho and Dr. Strange. Second, you all should be giving me positive reinforcement. I actually asked for help instead of trying to handle it myself. I think everyone would agree that I don't always have the best track record with asking for help." Peter's eyes challenged Steve's.

"Like I said, I knew what your answers would be. Peter, you're on the ground with Natasha, Bucky, and myself. Tony, you're in the air with Rhodey and Sam. Clint will take high ground."

Peter turned to Tony, "I'm going."

"Fine. You're wearing the Iron Spider suit."

Knowing there was no arguing, Peter nodded.

* * *

Tony stood at the back of the room and watched Peter review the ops plan with Steve. Peter was offering really good input. Rhodey slid next to Tony. "Still trying to figure out how to stop him from going?"

Tony shook his head, "No. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it though. What I'm trying to figure out is when that happened." He nudged his head toward Peter and Steve.

Rhodey knitted his brow in confusion. Prompting Tony to elaborate. "He's holding his own in planning with Steve."

Rhodey smiled, "He's got a strategic mind. He just didn't have the confidence to show it before. You gave him that."

"Yeah, maybe. I want to take it back through. No almost 16 year old should be planning an op like this."


	50. Chapter 50 - Shoot To Thrill

Peter's Iron Spider suit formed around him as the Quinjet landed and the ramp lowered. They had to set down a fair distance from the facility. Security for the facility included radar which meant the Quinjet, even with all of its stealth technology might be detected. As planned Steve, Bucky, Natasha, and Peter headed out on foot. Tony, Rhodey, and Sam would attack from the air.

Tony hated the plan. Tactically he knew it was a good plan and their best option but he hated Peter being so far away from him. It was one thing if Peter was on containment but this was entirely different. Peter was going to be in the thick of things.

"Tony, you have got to stop pacing." Rhodey stood in front of Tony's current path in the aisle of the Quinjet. "He'll be fine."

Tony glared at Rhodey. "What's the count down?"

"20 minutes. Natasha is slowing them down." Sam called from his seat In the cockpit.

"I'm going to tell her you said that." Rhodey taunted back.

* * *

Natasha and Steve crouched in the tree-line in front of the facility. Bucky and Peter waited behind them, all four observing their target. A chain link fence surrounded it. They had a plan. It was a good plan. They had made good time. Clint had managed to get into position inside the fence. They were all on radio silence until they started their incursion but hopefully Clint had gotten enough intel that he could let the team know where all of the kids were located.

Steve held up two fingers indicating the 2 minute count down. They would move as soon as they heard Tony, Rhodey, and Sam. Once inside, neutralization was the primary goal. If Clint had located the kids, there was an alternative plan to send Bucky and Peter toward them to keep them safe but it was very much a game time call. Knocking down the opposition quickly was the best way to keep everyone safe.

The aerial assault team would take care of the guards on the roof and on the grounds. The ground team was heading inside the building immediately. Take care of the guards. Find the kids. Find Getz and Tarleton if they could.

Peter looked up when he heard a repulsor whirl above him. The roof of the building lit up as Iron Man, War Machine, and Falcon concentrated their fire power on the roof guards. Tony knew how to put on a show. Peter's mask automatically adjusted for the change in brightness. The guards on the ground turned their attention toward the roof which allowed the ground team to enter unopposed.

The facility itself had a big open area in the center with rooms and halls on the sides. Clint started giving them intel. There was a control room at the back of the open area. He hadn't been able to get in but based on the number of cameras he had spotted he thought that they all probably fed into the room. The control room became their primary focus. If they could get there, they could find the kids and it would give them the upper hand on the guards.

For a kids camp, the guards had a ridiculous amount of firepower. For a maximum security prison the guards had a ridiculous amount of firepower. Peter ran through his options. He could plot a path that would allow him to swing with enough velocity to not only get to the control room but also go through the glass. The problem was Karen only gave him a 20% chance of making before getting shot down. "Karen, can you paint the targets that have the highest probability of shooting us down? And, can you do something about the volume?"

Targets lit up on his HUD. "Peter, your mask is muted as much as it can be. See if this works." Karen started playing music. It was one of the lab playlists. "Thanks Karen." The music was actually enough for his mind to focus on it and not the gunfire going on around him. "How's Tony doing?" Peter started methodically firing webs at the painted targets on his HUD to start clearing a path.

"Mr. Stark gave strict instructions that I am not supposed to feed you information on his status because he was concerned that it would distract you. But he's fine. He, War Machine, and Falcon are still outside."

Peter smiled. Tony was ok. He glanced over to where Natasha was crouched behind a low wall. "Nat, I can get to the control room but I need some cover fire."

"Can you get me there too?"

Peter ran the math in his head. He could adjust for the extra weight. "Yeah, but I can't hold on to you. You're going to have to hold on to me."

Steve glanced over at Peter and Natasha. "Seriously?"

"It'll be fine. You and Bucky focus on the clearing a path." She looked over at Peter. "Ready?"

Peter nodded. "We've got to go up first. It'll be easier if I climb and then yank you up." Without waiting for a response he scampered up the wall, webbing up two guards in his way on the 2nd floor catwalk overlooking the open area. Once we was over the railing he leaned over and tagged Natasha with a web and pulled.

Natasha used the momentum Peter gave her and ran up the wall. Reaching the railing she pulled herself up and landed next to Peter who was perched on the rail. "You're sure about this."

"As long as you hold on."

Natasha pulled both guns out and wrapped her arms around Peter's neck and her legs around his waist. "Tell me if I need to shift."" Are you listening to music?" She asked incredulously.

Peter flicked his wrist to shoot a web and start their way toward the control room. "It helps me concentrate with all the noise." He was aware that she was taking out targets as they swung towards the end of the room. He was also aware that they had a significant amount of ground support as well. He saw Cap's shield knock down an entire section of one of the catwalks. As they got toward the last swing he centered Natasha on his front in preparation to crash through the window. Karen had already confirmed they had enough momentum to break the glass. The extra weight actually made it easier. Feet first they crashed through the window.

Landing on his back Peter immediately threw his arms out to the side and webbed up as many guards as he could. He knew Natasha had done the same, although her method was a little louder and a lot more lethal.

Sounds settled and all Natasha could hear was the end of "Shoot To Thrill" coming from Peter's mask. Shaking her head and grinning she pushed herself off Peter and headed to the monitors.

Peter flipped up and headed to the other set of monitors. "Got them. There are three sub-levels. One has a lot of cooling systems. That'll be the mainframe for whatever they're doing. The students are one level down." He looked up as Iron Man landed in the middle of the debris. "Everything ok out there?"

"Peachy." He didn't flinch when War Machine lit up part of the cat walk outside of the control room. The guards outside had been taken care of so Falcon, War Machine, and Iron Man had headed inside to support the rest of the team. Tony had entered just in time to see Peter and Natasha crash through the control room windows.

One of the ground rules was that Peter and Tony were not allowed to ask each other if they were ok until it was over. Peter had brought it up first but Tony actually fully supported it. Peter looked back at the monitors and started typing on the keyboard in front of them changing what was displayed on the monitors. "Students are one level down. Looks like maybe 10 rooms, two per room. I count six guard on the floor but the cameras might not be picking everyone up." He looked back to the open area behind them and frowned. "Stairwells in the corners? I didn't see an elevator but there has to be one."

Natasha walked over to the duo. "Mainframe is below that. Not a lot of cameras on the third subfloor. Some of it looks like workspace but it's dark."

"I want to clear the guards out before we start moving kids around." Tony looked at Natasha. "When is SHIELD getting here." They needed SHIELD's help but he also didn't want them to have access to Peter.

"They've set up a perimeter and won't move in until we give them the ok. I'll grab Clint and Bucky. We'll work our way up from the bottom floor."

Tony pushed open the stairwell door to the floor that housed the students. Peter was crouched in front of him. Three of the guards fired towards them, bullets bouncing off the Iron Man armor. Peter shot webs at the weapons and yanked and then followed with taser webs. The other three guards ran to assist. They were quickly webbed up as well.

"How are you doing on web fluid?"

Peter tried the first door and found it locked. "Ok, but I don't need to swing back to the Quinjet." Squeezing the knob he broke the lock and pushed he door open. Two kids about his age were huddled together inside. One quick look told him that neither was Ned.

Iron Man stepped in the room behind Spider-Man. The two kids gaped at the two superhero's standing in front of them. "We're here to get you home. Stay in the room until we clear the floor, ok." Receiving a nod, they moved on to the next room.

Nine rooms later they had discovered two empty rooms and sixteen teenagers. Getting a status report from both teams, Sam walked into the hallway on their floor to start moving kids upstairs. They had decided to bring SHIELD closer so they could get the teenagers out of harms way. They thought all of the opposition at this point had been neutralized but they didn't want to take any chances.

Natasha had reported that they had cleared the bottom level. Getz had been caught but Tarleton was no where to be found. Bucky was headed back to the main floor with their prisoner. Clint and Natasha we're headed to the floor that housed the mainframe.

"We'll meet your there." Iron Man looked at Spider-Man and knew that Peter was worried about Ned. The students they had rescued didn't know where they had been taken. They just knew they had been separated before breakfast the day before.


	51. Chapter 51 - Rescue

Tony pushed open the door. Clint and Natasha had already cleared the guards in the open from the middle floor but he still had Peter behind him as a precaution. Clint and Natasha were working their way through rooms from one end of the hall. Tony and Peter started from the other end. Tony decided after the second room that Peter's method of entering a room was way easier than Natasha and Clint's, who alternated kicking doors in. Even with the suit on Tony could tell that Peter's anxiety over not find Ned was skyrocketing.

Peter was about to squeeze the lock on the fourth room when they heard. "I told you I knew the Avengers!" coming from one of Clint and Natasha's rooms.

"Go. I'll take care of the rest." Tony watched Peter skid to a halt in front of the room Natasha and Clint had opened. Turning his attention back to the door in front of him he let the suit squeeze the knob to break the lock so he could push it open. In front of him stood a room full of computers. His gut told him not to have FRIDAY interface so he retracted part of the suit so he could freely browse through the files the old fashion way.

Natasha walked into the room behind him. "Find anything interesting?"

"SHIELD's going to need their data encryption team to get through most of this but the coding I can access is pretty advanced. It's hitting everything from the financial world to DOT. It looks like it's an AI designed to take over systems at will." Tony stepped back from the keyboard. "FRIDAY, lets play it safe and disconnect from the suit. Passcode 'Armageddon'." He looked back at Natasha. "Ned ok?"

"He's fine. He and three other boys realized there was a problem the day Ned texted. Between the four of them they managed to tip off Getz. They've been down here ever since. I've got Clint taking Ned back to the Quinjet. I figured you'd prefer that SHIELD not interview him." Natasha hesitated a moment. "Keeping this to ourselves is becoming more and more challenging, Fury isn't stupid." Natasha knew Tony would understand she was talking about Peter and not the mission.

Tony scrubbed an unarmored hand over his face. "I know. I'll figure it out." He refrained from asking about Peter. He knew that Natasha's comment about Clint included Peter, she was just doing her best to avoid mentioning him in case anyone overheard.

"Why don't you head back to the compound with Clint. We'll wrap up here and either get Clint to come back and pick us up or hitch a ride with Fury." Natasha knew that Tony wanted to check on Peter so she wanted to make sure he knew they could handle the clean up.

Tony smiled in appreciation. "Just make sure they don't let anything actually interface with that." He nodded his head toward the bank of computers. "Some of the code bothers me. I just can't put my finger on it."

* * *

Tony retracted the armor as he walked up the ramp into the Quinjet. Peter was pacing the length of the jet, occasionally glancing over at Ned who was talking a mile a minute. Tony pushed the button to raise the ramp. As soon as it was closed Peter retracted his suit.

Clint called back from the cockpit. "Ned, come up here. You can help me fly back to the compound."

Ned jumped out of the seat he had been in. "Really! That's awesome!"

Tony shot a grateful look at Clint as he disappeared with Ned into the front of the Quinjet. He looked back at Peter. He really just wanted to wrap his arms around him and make sure he was ok. He settled for putting his hand on his shoulder and squeezing. "Are you ok? No problems with your arms? No sensory issues?"

"No issues. It got a little loud at one point but Karen just turned on one of the lab playlists. It worked great! You're not hurt? Right?" Peter looked at Tony as if tying to make sure there were no injuries he couldn't see. He had been fine during the actual incursion. When he got back to the Quinjet and Tony wasn't with him he almost had a panic attack. Clint must have noticed because he had shoved a tracking device in his hands that showed where all of the Avengers were. Peter and Clint's dots showed in the Quinjet. Peter watched Tony's until it showed him headed back to the Quinjet.

"I'm fine. My fine, not your fine." After Peter's issues during his recover and after their week at the cabin, Tony discovered he had a whole set of parenting skills he didn't know existed. Peter had relaxed into their new relationship. A lot of the anxiety Peter had was wrapped up in trying to keep from seeing Tony as a more than just a mentor Once he had let himself accept it, the new anxiety was related to Tony getting hurt. There had been more than one nightmare that had reared its head in the past couple weeks. When the realization hit them that this was the first team mission since everything had changed they had both been a little shaken. The 'don't ask if I'm ok until it's over' had come up out of necessity. Focusing on each other was going to end up getting them both killed.

Relaxing, Peter smirked. "Ned has a lot of intel. I don't know how you're going to debrief him though. He just got rescued by the Avengers. It may take a while for him to calm down."

* * *

"Ned, you start next week in the software engineering department at SI. You need supervision." Tony stared at the teen sitting in the Avenger command center.

Ned laughed but looked between Mr. Stark and Peter, "Wait, you're serious?"

"I'll let you know what day but you need someone keeping an eye on you." Tony sat back in his chair and looked at Peter who just shook his head. "Lets go over it one more time. When you arrived at the camp they put all of the students to work on some lower level coding."

Ned nodded. "A couple of us started comparing notes and realized that it was just the interfaces for a more robust program. It actually reminded me a little bit of some of Peter's suits' interfaces."

Peter buried his head in his hand. Reminding Tony that he had hacked the Spider Suit was probably not a good idea now.

"Yeah, that would be the AI interface." Tony smirked at the look on Peter's face.

"So we put all of our individual pieces together and realized they were focused on things like the financial systems, the department of transportation, some utility companies. All stuff that doesn't have extreme security measures like the defense stuff. But, if you control those systems you can control a city." Ned looked between Mr. Stark and Peter. "Plus, we caught a look at some guys with guns and it felt wrong. That's when I texted Peter."

The com panel lit up. Tony pushed a button and Natasha's face came up on the hologram. "Tony, we've got a problem."


	52. Chapter 52 - We Have A Problem

"The SHIELD team that went in to decrypt the code was attacked. They're not sure by what." Natasha sent Tony a stream of data. "We've isolate the facility from utilities and have put a satellite block in place. We think we've cut it off but we can't be sure."

Tony turned to Ned. "Technobabble...now. Did you or the other three do anything? Something that would interact with it?"

Ned shook his head. "No, we talked about it. One of the other guys, his name was Basil, had some experience with worms, he called it a technology parasite. He proposed loading it to slow down whatever they were doing. The rest of us voted him down. Maybe he did it anyway."

Tony looked back at the hologram. "Natasha, find this Basil kid, find out what he did. We're headed back. I can go in and undo whatever he did."

"You can't. Tony, it's eating everything metal. Killing the power slowed it down but the team it attacked...everything metal was consumed. One guy had a metal plate in his head...let's just say he didn't make it." She glanced apologetically at Peter and Ned.

"Fine. No suit." Tony was already cycling through what he needed to do.

"No!" Peter stood up. "You still have shrapnel in your chest. Just...No!" The forcefulness of Peter's response took Ned by surprise, but not Tony and not Natasha.

"Tony, Peter is right. You can't go in. Rhodey, Bucky, Sam, and Clint can't go in for similar reasons. Steve and I can handle it. I know enough about computer systems to take care of it." Natasha looked like she was ready to disconnect. She had gotten the information she needed from Ned. She knew who she had to talk to.

Ned stopped her. "Everything is a dual system. Captain America is pretty awesome but he doesn't strike me as someone who handles a computer well."

"I'll go." Peter hadn't sat back down after his initial outburst. "I don't even have any fillings in my teeth. While I may not be as good as Ned when it comes to software I'm not half bad." He decided to leave off the part about how he could also handle more hits than any of the SHIELD agents could. The look on Tony's face told him it wouldn't be taken well.

"Tony, I'm going to go find this kid and figure out what the plan needs to be. At the very least I need you to bring Kevlar tact gear for Steve and myself. It'll be quicker than Fury having to bring some in." There was no way she was going to get in the middle of Tony and Peter.

Peter started for the door of the command center.

"Where are you going?" Tony jumped up and followed him out the door.

"To the lab to start printing plastic web-shooters." Peter called over his shoulder as he walked into the elevator. He hoped the doors would shut before Tony could get there and he could have a little more time to figure out how to convince Tony to let him go. He realized the flaw in his plan as he stood there with the doors wide open and Tony stepped into the elevator. FRIDAY let him get away with an awful lot but at the end of the day FRIDAY was completely loyal to Tony.

"You're grounded." The words were out of Tony's mouth before he knew what he was saying. Looking back after the fact he realized this would be only the first of many parenting fails.

"I'm not grounded." Peter tapped his foot waiting for the elevator doors to open onto the lab floor.

"You are not walking into an unknown situation completely unprotected with plastic web-shooters." The door slid open and Tony trailed Peter into the lab.

"Natasha will have everything figured out by the time we get there." Peter walked over to the 3-D printer and started working through the interface changing the design on his web-shooters to remove all of the electronically charged options.

"That's not the point." Tony paused and looked at what Peter was doing. "I don't think you want that option either. Change the velocity setting to a factor of 10." He watched Peter make the changes and start the process of manufacturing the web shooters. "It's too dangerous. You're not thinking this through."

Peter looked up at Tony. "I did think this through. If I don't do this and they fail...". Peter shook his head. "I can do this."

Tony looked at the teen in front of him that was currently giving him a look that Tony wasn't entirely sure he could say no to. "I feel like this is definitely something that I should not be contributing to, but if you're going to go in then you're going to have so many layers of Kevlar you may not be able to move." Tony was realizing rapidly that trying to responsibly parent a teen superhero was damn near impossible. He was fairly certain that most other parental figures never had to deal with the idea of letting their 15 year old walk into life threatening situations on a regular basis.

Peter grinned. "I can do this. I'll be fine." He stopped and looked around the lab. "You realize we left Ned alone in the command center, right."

"FRIDAY can take care of him. Come on, let's find some tact gear that fits you."

* * *

Tony stepped off the ramp of the Quinjet with two bags slung over his shoulder. Peter refused to keep the black ski mask on any longer than necessary so he stayed on the Quinjet attempting to keep his identity secret from Fury and the rest of SHIELD. Tony was enjoying the fact that the kid had decided within five minutes of having tactical gear on that he hated it. Natasha and Steve met them by the Quinjet. Tony handed each of them a bag. "Where's Fury?"

"Keeping an eye on the facility." Natasha grabbed her bag and headed to the Quinjet to change.

"Underoos, you're clear. Let Natasha have the Quinjet." Tony turned and waited for Peter to come down the ramp.

Natasha smirked at Tony as she passed Peter on the ramp. Judging by the look on Peter's face he hated tactical gear. She would never tell him or Tony but she had just won $20 from Sam. Sam thought there was no way Tony would let Peter near the facility. Natasha knew Peter a little better.

"I don't know how people wear this for an extended period of time." Peter stretched his arms trying to get a little more freedom.

Tony looked at Peter in exasperation. "You can change out of it at any time."

"No, it's fine. I just wish it wasn't so tight. And heavy." Peter frowned as he squatted down trying to loosen up the material on his legs.

"Remember this next time you complain that the Iron Spider suit is too restrictive." Tony crossed his arms and stared at Peter.

Natasha exited the Quinjet a few minutes later as Steve stifled a laugh. He picked up his bag and headed toward the jet. "I'll let Natasha fill you in while I change."

Natasha finished adjusting the chest protector. "That kid Basil uploaded a worm. The AI interface Getz was designing is partially organic. The worm was originally designed to 'eat' the code, targeting the higher technology functions first. Before it could destroy the core programming it attached itself to the organic aspects. It interpreted 'eat' as grow and started devouring everything around it."

Tony frowned. "Did this worm have a name?"

"Technovore." Natasha knew the second it was out of her mouth that Tony was familiar with it.

"Damn it." Tony scrubbed his hand across his face. "On the plus side I know how to disable it."

"Ok, what am I missing." Peter looked from Tony to Natasha.

"Technovore is a worm I created years ago. I keep trying to get rid of copies but they crop up every couple years." Over the years he had run into a couple instances where someone had used a variant of the code without fully understanding what they were doing. That was definitely the case now. He looked over apologetically at Natasha, "Bruce and I used the core code to speed up Ultron's learning. This damn code just refuses to die."

"How do we destroy it?" Peter focused Tony and Natasha back on the problem at hand.

"You can have it loop back on itself but it takes time. At its core it prioritizes what it goes after. The more sophisticated the code or tech the quicker it goes after it. If it's organic and consuming tech you don't want to give it any more so you've got to occupy it with a complex code." Tony ran through the different options when he saw a grin spread across Peter's face.

"So math. All I have to do is feed it something like Goldbach's Conjecture or the Riemann Hypothesis."

Tony stared at Peter. "That would work." He was so used to the fact that Peter was incredibly smart that sometimes be forgot just how intelligent he actually was. Using unsolvable equations was brilliant.

"So I take it we have a plan." Natasha looked from Peter to Tony who both nodded.


	53. Chapter 53 - I'm Cold

Peter yanked off the ski mask as soon as they were inside the building. SHIELD had retreated to a perimeter they had established and couldn't actually see the building but, Tony hadn't wanted to risk exposing him. He looked around the dark room that was a stark contrast to earlier in the day. They had entered while they still had daylight but the beams weren't penetrating enough to help much. To supplement, they had chem sticks, which Peter had called, much to Natasha's amusement, glow sticks for adults. They cast an eerie green glow over everything which did nothing but make the entire situation even more unsettling. "Do either of you hear that sound?"

"I hear something but I can't figure out what it is." Steve strained to hear. They had already determined that Peter's hearing was better than his but just slightly. "It almost sounds like he walls are groaning."

"Oh, I have never been happier that I don't have the same senses you two do than I am right now." Natasha looked around and headed toward the stairwell. "Come on, lets get this over with."

They made their way down the stairs. Steve in the lead with Natasha in the rear. The surviving members of the team that had been attacked had given them very little intelligence but had told them that the floor the computer systems were on had defense systems they hadn't originally detected.

Steve paused in front of the door leading to the floor. The door wasn't only shut, it looked like it was welded shut, or melted shut. "Peter, take that side." Between the two of them, they simply separated the entire door frame from the wall. Steve maneuvered it far enough away that he could glance through the crack only to have a laser to target him. He pushed the door back just in time for the frame to take the brunt of the blast.

"So it created lasers. Great!" Natasha commented drily. "Could you see where they came from?"

"Left side, about 20 feet down the hall." Steve looked at Peter, "Think webs will blind it?"

"Maybe. It's worth trying." Peter squeezed next to Steve.

"Ready?" Steve looked down at Peter who nodded. He shifted the door and Peter targeted where Steve had indicated. He covered the wall plus some and waited to see if it would hold. Steve slammed the door back when a laser fired from the other wall and Peter skidded to the side. "Well, good news. Webs work. Bad news, there's more than one."

Peter slid back in front of Steve. "Let's go." He waited for Steve to move the door again. When he did, Peter targeted the other side. It only took three more times until he lasers stopped firing. Peter glanced around the hall and then up at Steve.

Steve waited for Peter to slide back again and pulled the door far enough to move through it. When nothing else fired at him he stepped forward and let Peter and Natasha through. "Let's get into the room and see if we can do this." He walked toward the room. He reached for the door knob. He pulled it back as soon as his skin touched it. "It's cold."

"Makes sense. It's got to be putting off a tremendous amount of heat. It would have to be trying to keep it cool." Peter reaches forward and touched the door knob just to yank his hand back.

"Let's be smart about this." Natasha looked between Peter and Steve. "Peter, ignore everything else and just get to the keyboard. Steve and I will handle whatever happens. Let me know when you need my help." She glanced down at his web-shooters. "Give me one of those. You'll need at least one free hand."

Peter slid off a web-shooter and fastened it around Natasha's wrist. He watched her flex her wrist and fire a web. He looked at Steve. "Ok. Let's go."

Steve stepped back and kicked the door, knocking it off the hinges. More lasers fired which Natasha and Peter both hit with webs as Peter moved quickly toward the keyboard interface. He could hear Steve and Natasha destroying things behind him as he focused on the interface which was covered in wires and some kind of organic material. Shoving it out of the way he started typing until he worked his way through the system. "Nat, I need you to input something." He waited for her to walk over to the adjoining interface before rattling off a string of characters for her to type in. He keyed in the companion code simultaneously until the screen in front of him unlocked. "Damn it." He jerked his arm back as a laser hit his upper arm. Flicking a wrist he webbed the target and went back to typing. "I've got the first part in. It's uploading. Nat, I'm going to need you again." He glanced over and saw Steve pull a laser housing out of the ceiling. He waited again until Natasha was ready and started calling out a string of characters for her to enter.

"How many more?" Steve asked, "its staring to feel like it did when I crashed the plane." The air was so cold ice was forming on the metal surfaces.

"Maybe two. Don't tell Tony but right now I'm really glad I have on so many layers. Spiders and cold don't mix well." Peter pulled his hands to his mouth to blow on them to warm them up. He was starting to have problems typing. He pulled the ski mask out and pulled it over his head. Anything was better than the bitter cold. He slid the other web-shooter off and tossed it to Steve. "Here. I need both hands." He went back to typing. By the time he was on the last round, his teeth were chattering. The laser fire had completely stopped. They were hoping that meant that the system was busy trying to solve the equations Peter had uploaded. He stepped back from the keyboard he was working on and walked over to the other station to see if he could gauge if the worm had started destroying itself yet.

They all looked up when they heard a horrific sound coming from the walls. It sounded like a dying animal. Natasha look at Peter and Steve. "That's what you were hearing?"

"It didn't sound so horrifying before. I wonder if this means it's working." Peter looked around the room as he shoved his hand under his arms to try to keep them warm.

"Why can't we just destroy all of this? Wouldn't that have been easier?" Steve blew on his hands to try to keep them warm.

"This code can live in the smallest piece of technology. Even a piece of data cable. I don't think we could destroy enough of it to ensure it was gone for good." Natasha looked over at Peter for confirmation.

Peter shrugged, "That's what Tony said." He glanced down at the screen again and saw it fill up with 0's and 1's. After a few seconds they started disappearing. He walked over to the keyboard and typed a command. The cursor just blinked back at him. "I think we're done."

Natasha walked over to the other interface and typed in a couple commands herself. Getting the same response she stepped back. "Let's find somewhere a little warmer. SHIELD can come in and clean up the rest."

* * *

Tony had stopped pacing a while ago. Instead, he just stood in front of where Peter, Natasha, and Steve had entered with his arms crossed, staring at the entrance. He had told Fury to stay back until he called him. Blamed it on the possibility of Technovore spreading. In reality he just wanted to make sure if Peter came out without the mask on, Fury wouldn't see him. When the three exited he was surprised to see the mask on. Then he took a look at Natasha and Steve. Opening a channel he instructed FRIDAY to warm up the Quinjet. Peter had has hands tucked under his arms. Steve and Natasha were alternating between rubbing their hands together and blowing on them. "Capsicle..."

"You have no idea. It dropped the temperature. We think we got it. It sounded like it was dying and it stopped attacking us. I think it's safe for SHIELD to go in and destroy what's left." Steve stopped in front of Tony. He hadn't enjoyed cold weather since coming out of the ice and this just solidified his opinion of being cold. Even the warmer temperature outside wasn't helping.

"We can let them know once we're on the Quinjet. FRIDAY is warming it up." Tony looked at Peter. "Come here kid." Wrapping his arms around him he could feel how cold he was. Peter burrowed his head against Tony's chest trying to soak up some of the warmth. Tony could hear the faint "I'm cold" coming from Peter, his voice stifled by the mask and the fact that his face was smashed into Tony's chest. "I know. Let's get to the Quinjet."

Peter sat numbly on the seat that Tony had pushed him into once they made it back to the Quinjet. FRIDAY had taken off as soon as the ramp closed. He looked over and saw Natasha and Steve both bundled in warming blankets. Tony pulled the top layers of Kevlar over Peter's head.

"I need more layers on, not less." Peter grumbled in response to losing some of the warmth provided by the gear.

"No, you need to increase your core temperature which you can't do with all of this on." Finally getting him down to the black undershirt, he wrapped a warming blanket around him. "Pete, look at me." He waited for Peter to tip his head up. "What's the square root of 50?"

Peter frowned. He did not want to do math problems right now. He wanted to sleep. "7.071."

"Ok, good, your brain isn't frozen." Tony sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around him pulling him against his side. They'd be back at the compound soon and Peter could spend the next couple hours nestled on the couch covered in blankets. He wasn't overly concerned but did wonder how long it would take Peter to warm up. Natasha and Steve were both cold but not quite as bad as Peter. They had always joked that Spiders didn't like the cold. Peter had fried the heater in his suit three times during the colder part of winter but they hadn't really explored the underlying reasons why. Tony thought they might need to know if it was going to prove to be a vulnerability. Right now he was content with Spider Kid nestling against him for warmth.


	54. Chapter 54 - A New Normal

Tony stood on the balcony overlooking the channel between Manhattan and Queens. They had settled on a building that was close to a bridge so Peter's trips to and from Queens wouldn't take too long. He actually liked the view. The building wasn't quite as tall as Avenger Tower had been, but it had a great area for Peter to swing off of as well as give him a pretty good landing spot for Iron Man. A lot of the building was still shell space. Pepper couldn't decide if she wanted to move one of the SI divisions into a couple of the lower floors or just leave them open for expansion. They had redone the top floor as their living space. May had a room there but much to Tony's dismay she had spent an extraordinary amount of time with Happy. Tony wasn't sure if Peter had just not picked up on it or if he was willingly ignoring it. Either way, he found the situation funny.

He and Peter had spent the last couple weeks installing FRIDAY. The team had helped with the security measures. They would be ready to move in the week before school i started.

"Boss, Peter is two minutes out."

Tony smiled. "Thanks FRIDAY." They had fallen into a comfortable rhythm over the last couple weeks. They'd drive into the city, spend a couple hours either working on the wiring or setting up labs. Then Peter would head out and spend a couple hours patrolling. His curfew was still midnight and so far he had been really good about making it back before midnight. There was only one night that he had landed unceremoniously on the balcony a mere seconds before midnight.

If Tony thought Peter was awake enough he'd let him drive back to the compound. He was usually wired after patrolling so it generally wasn't a problem. Despite his less than stellar beginnings, Peter was turning into a pretty good driver. Good enough that Tony didn't think he'd have a problem passing his driving test in a couple weeks.

Tony leaned on the railing and watched Spider-Man do a ridiculous over the top flip to land next to Tony on the balcony. "Ok SpiderKid. No need to show off."

Peter shrugged. "It's been a good night. Stopped a couple muggings, a car jacking, an attempted burglary, and no one tried to stab me or shoot me."

"That is a good night. Go change and we'll head back to the compound." Tony watched Peter almost bounce back to his room to change. He didn't remember ever having that much energy.

Peter walked out of his room a few minutes later in jeans in a t-shirt with a backpack thrown over his shoulder. "Ready?"

Tony nodded and tossed him the keys. "Lead the way."

Peter pulled out of the underground deck onto the relatively empty street and headed towards the compound. While the streets of New York were never truly empty there was a vast difference between the middle of the night and the middle of the day.

"Do you need anything for your room? Or school? I think Pepper is going shopping this weekend."

Peter shook his head. "I don't need anything."

Tony inwardly sighed. He knew Peter needed new jeans and tennis shoes but trying to get him to actively participate in the process was like pulling teeth. "So lets talk Spider-Man."

Peter glanced over at Tony with a look of fear. He snapped them back to the road when Tony gave him the look he knew meant pay attention. "What do you mean talk Spider-Man. What's there to talk about."

"I want to make sure we're on the same page on when you're going out. Homework has to be done first."

"But I always go out patrolling after school." Peter had a sinking suspicion that his life was about to drastically change. Last year, May had worked so much she had no idea when he was doing his homework. The rule was as long as his grades didn't slip she didn't dig too deep. Tony was starting to dig and Peter felt his freedom slipping away from him. He hadn't given it a thought before because it had been the summer but he was going to be living in the same place as Tony. Tony who didn't work in the normal sense of the word and who would probably be home every single day.

"You're starting your junior year and you're doing dual enrollment. Your workload is going up." Tony watched the expressions roll across Peter's face. He realized Peter hadn't thought through what it would mean to be living with adults that weren't at work all the time. Not only would Tony be there most of the time but really so would May.

"Why can't we just go back to the same deal I had with May. As long as my grades don't slip I can do what I want." Peter knew how ridiculous the idea was the second the word left his mouth.

"That's a giant no. You are not going to have free reign to do whatever you want. Dinner at home. Between all of us someone will be there."

"May is usually with Happy." Peter pointed out.

"And Happy is usually there too." Tony looked at Peter. "So do you want to talk about May and Happy?"

"No." Peter glanced over at Tony who was smirking at him. "It's weird. I mean it's Happy. And it's May." He paused. "Together. It's weird." He slowed down to get on the off ramp to head to the compound. "It's not that I don't want them to be happy. It's just pieces of my life have collided into each other and I don't always know what to do with it. My entire life is not normal." He glanced again at Tony after he came to a stop at a stoplight.

"Normal isn't something that's easy to define. Normal for you isn't the same as someone else. You just need to figure out how to be comfortable with your normal."

"That makes as much sense as when you told me to stay in the gray area." Peter shot Tony a snarky look.

"Look at it this way. Would you trade being Spider-Man for what you're considering to be a normal life?" Tony already knew the answer.

"No." Peter was indignant at the very thought. Spider-Man was part of who he was now.

"Spider-Man is not normal. And I don't mean that in a bad way. But I don't think anyone else at your school has an alter-ego. So if Spider-Man is part of who you are who's to say that's not your normal?"

Peter shrugged. "I get what you're saying. Spider-Man is my norm."

"And, having me, Pepper, May, and Happy in your life is also your norm. And don't think you're counting out the rest of them. I think Natasha trying to figure out how to negotiate some kind of custody agreement where you come to the compound on the weekends."

Peter laughed but also knew how serious Tony was. Natasha and Bucky has both voices their opinion on the fact that Peter wasn't going to be under the same roof as the rest of them. "We'll still go up there and train and run missions, right?" As Peter finished the sentence he started to panic.

"Training yes, Missions dependent on school. But that's not different than before. Back to regular Spider-Man. Curfew is still midnight. Grades don't slip. Homework done first. Dinner at home. But, if you want to do your homework at the library, MJ's, or Ned's that's ok too." Tony tilted his head and watched Peter process what he was saying.

"Ok. I guess that isn't too bad." If Peter were honest it really wasn't too different than what he did anyway, it's just that Tony was the one telling him. Before there was no one really holding him accountable. Now there was. He vaguely wondered if this is what Ned went through when he would tell Peter he couldn't do something because he was grounded. The only difference was that in Peter's case it was Iron Man grounding him. He suspected that being grounded by Tony carried a whole lot more weight than being grounded by Mrs. Leeds.


	55. Chapter 55 - Homecoming

"Peter, you should give it a chance. You're only in High School for a short time." Pepper looked at Peter sympathetically.

"I almost died last time."

Pepper looked between Tony and Peter. "It couldn't have been that bad."

"No really, he almost died." Tony shook his head at the memory. "Crashed a plane from the outside, had a building dropped on him. Almost died." He put heavy emphasis on the last two words.

Pepper stared at Tony. He had never filled her in on the events of the last Homecoming Dance. "What do you mean had a building dropped on him?"

"The Vulture took out all of the support beams in an abandoned warehouse and it collapsed while I was inside. I had to lift several tons of debris off my back." Peter had moved past the event so it was almost funny to watch the expression on Peppers' face.

"Why didn't you tell me about this? Both of you!" She smacked Tony on the arm. "Was this before or after the plane crash?"

"Oh, it was before." Peter was having fun with Pepper at this point. It wasn't helping that Tony was trying hard not to laugh and failing miserably.

"Wait, this was when you were moving from Avenger Tower?" Pepper has seen the crash site the next day. Tony and Happy had already moved all of the tech by the time she got there. "The plane was destroyed. In a million pieces spread across at least a mile of the beach. What do you mean you were on the outside?"

Tony leaned back and crossed his arms. He wanted to hear Peter explain what he did to Pepper.

"Well after I almost got sucked into an engine I stuck myself to a wing. I realized the plane was headed towards Brooklyn. So I manually adjusted the flaps to turn the plane." Peter looked over at Tony and smiled. Pepper was way too easy of a target.

Pepper stared at Peter and then turned to look at Tony. "He almost died!"

"Yep. Which is why he doesn't want to go to the dance." Tony honestly didn't care one way or the other. If Peter wanted to go he'd completely overdo it and probably embarrass the kid. If he didn't want to go that was great too. He had already offered for MJ, Ned, and whoever else to come over and skip the dance. They could have their own party here. He'd still probably embarrass him. It was times like this where it was fun to have a teenager in the house.

Peter sighed. "Ned wants to go because he actually has a date."

"Who's Ned going with?" Pepper sat forward and did her best to forget about the fact that Peter had almost died a year ago.

"Betty Brandt. She's on the decathlon team this year."

"Is that the blond?" Pepper cycled through all of the people on the decathlon team. She and May had gone to the parent meeting last week and met most of their parents.

Peter nodded. "He's really excited about it. So I guess I have to go. There's just about a million other things I'd rather do."

Tony smiled. "Maybe it'll just be a normal boring dance and nothing exciting will happen. Does MJ have her dress yet? You probably need a new suit."

Peter stared at Tony. "Please don't go overboard."

Pepper shook her head. "Peter, you've grown 2 inches in the last couple months alone. You need a suit." She turned to Tony. "Don't go crazy but can you take him to get one?"

Peter looked at Pepper like she had just given him a death sentence.

* * *

Peter stood in front of a mirror and stared at the tie. He hadn't tied a tie since the last Homecoming Dance. He honestly had no idea how to even start. He looked over and saw Tony leaning against the door frame. "I don't understand how you're comfortable wearing suits on a regular basis."

"Well, if you notice, I only wear ties when I absolutely have to. Half the time I wear a t-shirt instead of a dress shirt. Which I think I tried to get you to do." Tony walked over and stood behind Peter and started tying his tie.

"You can get away with a t-shirt. If I did it I'd just stand out which I definitely don't want." Peter watched the motions Tony went through. It still looked like a lot of trouble.

Tony took a step back and looked at Peter in the mirror. "You look good, kid. Are you ready? Happy should be here soon with MJ and her parents." Pepper had suggested to MJ's parents that they come over. The adults could all take their obligatory pictures and then MJ and Peter could head out. Then the adults were having dinner. None of them had spent a lot of time with MJ's parents despite how long Peter and MJ had been dating.

Peter sucked in a breath. "I guess so. You did manage to keep everyone else from showing up, right?"

"Correct. Although I'm supposed to send them pictures." Tony paused, "Just a heads up, I would not put it past Natasha to show up at some point tonight. She does not always understand what no means."

"It means _nyet_." Peter smirked. You didn't hang out with two assassins fluent in Russian without picking up a few things.

Tony smiled, "Come on, Pepper and May want pictures."

Peter groaned.

"So life lesson. Someone is always taking a picture. Especially these days. You might as well embrace it. That way you end up with fewer embarrassing pictures." Tony threw an arm around Peter's shoulder and guided him out of the room. "Second life lesson. Enjoy yourself. You're acting like you're going in front of a firing squad."

* * *

Peter looked up when the elevator doors opened. Happy stepped off with MJ's parents. MJ stepped off behind them and Peter's jaw dropped.

Tony smirked at the look on Peter's face. He watched Pepper walk over and greet MJ's parents and usher them into the living room. He nudged Peter with his shoulder which prompted the teen to move.

Peter walked over to MJ. "Wow." It was the only thing he could come up with. "You look great."

MJ rolled her eyes. "I think all of your little friends missed out on their childhoods and are trying to live vicariously through us. Natasha took me shopping. It's hard to believe she's an assassin. She really enjoys stuff like this."

Confusion rolled across Peter's face. "Did you just call the Avengers my 'little friends'? And I can't believe you let Natasha take you shopping."

MJ shook her head. "Yeah, you can't actually tell her 'no'. I can tell anyone 'no'. Except her. It's uncanny."

"Yeah, about that. Tony warned me that we shouldn't be surprised if she shows up at some point. Tony told her and the rest of them that they couldn't come over tonight. She doesn't listen to him either." He glanced over his shoulder. "We should probably get this over or we'll never make it to the restaurant to meet Ned and Betty."

MJ looped her arm through Peter's outstretched one and they headed over to the six adults that all had some kind of camera in their hands. Even Happy.

* * *

Peter and MJ impatiently waited for the elevator doors to close. Peter was pleasantly surprised that out of the six adults - MJ's mom and dad, Happy, May, Pepper, and Tony - Tony acted the least ridiculous. It was shocking really. He stole a glance over at MJ and grinned when he saw her dart her eyes over at him. He reached down and slid his hand into hers. "So far so good. Now we have to make it though dinner."

MJ smiled. "How hard could dinner be. I mean Ned and Betty are going to be ridiculous but it should be fine, right?"

The elevator doors opened to the garage. "Sure. We just have to make it though dinner and then a dance. I haven't been battling any super villains lately so no one should be trying to kill me." He opened the passenger side door for her and waited for her to slide in before closing it. Walking around he slid behind the steering wheel and started the engine. It would be fine.

* * *

Dinner was not fine. Ned and Betty were predictably over the top. But that was expected. What Peter hadn't expected despite being warned by Tony was that their table would be next to another foursome. A foursome that included a nurse, two super soldiers, and an assassin. Although Peter though Bucky was probably interchangeable between assassin and super soldier. Nevertheless he really had not expected them to crash dinner. Spending so much time with so many paranoid people had forced him to adopt some of their habits. Habits like not sitting with his back to the door. Which only meant that he saw them the second they walked through the door. He sank down in his seat which he knew was not going to do any good. MJ followed his line of sight. "Unbelievable. Where are the other four?"

"Rhodey and Sam are both in DC. I checked. I think Vision and Wanda are out of town too." Peter hissed at MJ.

Ned turned around. "Hey guys! What are you doing here?"

Peter and MJ forced smiles on their face. MJ glared at Natasha. "Yeah guys. What are you doing here?" MJ's question was a lot less friendly than Ned's.

Steve shot Peter an apologetic look and mouthed "I'm sorry."

Natasha and surprisingly Bucky were completely unapologetic. Natasha walked over and dipped her head between Peter and MJ and whispered. "See if you had just let us come over before this would have been easier."

MJ rolled her eyes. Ned ate it up. Peter wanted to crawl under the table. He was just happy that so far no one had recognized them. He slid his phone out and snapped a picture of Bucky and Steve talking to Ned and Charlotte and Natasha talking to Betty and sent it to Tony. He followed it with a picture of himself and MJ frowning. Tony responded with a simple "_Sorry. Tried to warn you_."

* * *

It was a relief when Peter and MJ got back in the car. MJ looked over at Peter. "You know we could always skip the dance. No one would know."

Peter sighed and held up his wrist. "Tracker. Although Tony wouldn't care. Ned would though. I can't do that to him." He looked over at MJ. "As much as I would love to skip the dance."

MJ sighed. "I know." She reached over and squeezed Peter's hand. "I'm pretty sure none of the avengers are planning on crashing the dance. I think Nat was just making a point."

Peter started the engine. "I hope so."

* * *

Peter really wished they had skipped the dance. It was loud. Music was so so. Ned and Betty were having fun. MJ was having fun. Peter tried to enjoy himself. He just felt unsettled. Not quite Spidey sense going off...until it did.


	56. Chapter 56 - Who Are You

Peter had one arm around MJ's waist and his other hand was holding hers on the dance floor when his Spidey sense went off. His entire body tensed.

"What?" MJ could feel how tense he had gotten and knew it couldn't be good.

Peter's eyes darted around the room until they landed on one of the doors. Two men had entered that Peter didn't recognize and his Spidey sense definitely was triggering on them. "MJ, I need you out of here." He pulled her off the dance floor. He grabbed Ned's shoulder along the way and pulled him and Betty with them. Before Peter could push them into the hallway they heard gunfire behind them. Spinning around he shoved the other three behind him. He saw one of the men holding a gun in the air.

"Now that I have your attention."

Peter felt MJ's hand slide up until it settled on his watch. She had played around with it enough that she knew what she was doing. All he had to do was make sure no one was hurt until backup got here. Glancing around he quickly scouted the area to check for additional targets. He saw the two initial guys but then he caught sight of two more by the other exit. They weren't making themselves known, which meant they were the ones to worry about. He brought his attention back to the one in the middle. The one with the gun, doing all of the talking.

"Here's how this goes. I want the four wealthiest kids front and center. Once we have four, we'll leave with them and the rest of you can go back to enjoying your party. Their parent will pay ransom, they'll be released, and everyone will be back at school on Monday. So...have at it kids. Sell each other out to save yourselves."

Peter wasn't sure what he expected. At first there was a deathly silence then chaos broke out. Peter wished he could say he was shocked at the way some of the kids acted but he had seen quite a bit as Spider-Man. He had seen how horrible people could be but he had also seen some truly remarkable displays of humanity. All of it was playing out in front of him now. Chaos was good though. The longer it took, the more time it would give Tony to get here.

* * *

Dinner was going great with MJ's parents. They were actually enjoyable dinner companions. And Happy was behaving himself so Tony was counting the night as a success. His watch vibrated and a spider emblem flashed across the face. Setting his jaw he glanced over at Pepper and then to the rest of his dinner guests. "If you'll excuse me for a minute. Something just came up that I need to take care of." Having a reputation for being eccentric meant that when he did stuff like this he could get away with it. He stepped into his office and tapped the nanobot housing activating the Iron Man suit around him. FRIDAY had already opened the balcony so he blasted off.

"FRIDAY, see if you can get a hold of Natasha, Steve, or Bucky." A moment later he was patched through.

"Tony, I tried to stop her but you know how she is."

Tony could hear Natasha and Bucky in the background of Steve's phone. "You can apologize to him in person. Are you still in the city?"

"Yeah, we were going to catch a movie." Steve had stopped walking down the sidewalk forcing the others to stop with him.

"Meet me at Peter's school. His panic alarm just went off."

* * *

The gunmen seemed to enjoy the chaos. The room was quickly divided into the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. Midtown School of Science and Technology wasn't your normal school. The school's focus by very definition was Science and Technology which meant that quite a few scholarships went out to the brilliant that fell in the 'have not' category. Then there were the kids who's parents paid for them to attend. As long as they could pass the entrance exams and maintain a certain GPA, they were welcome. It was those kids the gunmen were interested in. The ones with the bright futures and rich parents.

Peter and his group stayed out of the fray. Peter watched everything that went on around him, making sure that MJ, Ned, and Betty remained as small of targets as possible. Ned and Peter had been the subject of bullies so many times over the years that they both knew knew how to melt into the background. MJ had years of practice at being invisible. Betty was so scared she was frozen to Ned's side not making a sound. It should have been easy for the group to remain unseen. Maybe it would have worked a year ago, but Peter wasn't the same person he was a year ago. Maybe it was the fact that he was studying each of the four men cataloging their weaknesses and looking for an opening. Maybe it was because while everyone else in the gym was in a panic he was completely calm. Maybe it was because he didn't have an ounce of fear on his face. When he cycled back to the main gunman Peter realized he was staring at him.

"I want to know why no one is outing the kid with the most expensive suit in this room." The gunman's voice boomed through the din of chaos causing most of the student body to stop and stare at the gunman's quarry. He started walking toward Peter.

When Peter realized he was moving his way he pushed MJ back and walked forward to meet the gunman. He wanted to keep him as far away from the others as possible.

"Parker? Parker's on scholarship."

Peter almost smiled at Flash's outburst. He was on scholarship...was...a year ago. It's one of the things he had argued with Tony about. On top of a generous donation to upgrade the chem labs over the summer, Tony had also insisted that Principal Morita give Peter's scholarship to some other brilliant kid. Tony had paid Peter's tuition plus donated full scholarships for four other students. The only way Tony had gotten Peter over the fact that he was paying for his school was to point out that it meant that some other kid would have the same chances he did. Peter locked eyes with the gunman. "Take me, leave everyone else alone." Peter spoke low enough that no one else could hear.

"Why should I do that?" The gunman was curious.

"You said it yourself, I've got the most expensive suit in the room. I'm worth more." Peter decided that he definitely did not need a career in acting. He was completely winging everything he was saying just trying to buy time.

The gunman ran his eyes over Peter, sizing him up. "You're also the most dangerous one here. And they have no idea, do they?"

Peter put on his most innocent expression. "I'm just a 16 year old kid. How dangerous could I be? Just take me and leave everyone else alone. We can walk out of here. You can contact my family. They'll do anything to get me back." Peter shuddered at what he had just said. He was pretty sure that the man in front of him had no idea what 'anything' meant. Peter knew what Natasha and Bucky were capable of. Even though Clint never seemed dangerous, Peter also knew what he was capable of. Steve and Rhodey probably wouldn't kill the man but he'd never be seen again. Tony...Tony would tear him to pieces.

Eyes locked and straining, but failing, to hear the exchange between the two, the entire room missed the fact that the two unknown gunmen by the door disappeared. They also missed the figure that snaked her way through the crowd towards the second gunman.

The man standing in front of Peter either sensed that something was wrong or saw something on Peter's face that made him panic because the next thing Peter saw was a gun pointed at him. "Who are you?" the man hissed.

What absolutely no one missed was the crash of glass from the skylight above and the red and gold armor that landed between Peter and the gunman just as the man pulled the trigger.


	57. Chapter 57 - Sacrifice

The bullet deflected off of the Iron Man armor. Tony reached out and grabbed the man's hand, twisting it until the he dropped to his knees. Firing a taser blast with his repulsor the man crumpled into unconsciousness. Tony glanced around the room and saw that Natasha's target was also unconscious. Steve and Bucky had melted into the background. Turning around he looked at Peter who hadn't moved. Hadn't ducked, hadn't dove to the side. He glanced over Peter's shoulder and saw MJ a couple strides behind him. Tony glanced down at Peter's wrists and saw both web shooters formed. Peter hadn't ducked because he had already decided that he was stopping the bullet...one way or the other. Taking the chance of it hitting MJ wasn't an option. But the alternative almost made Tony's heart stop. He had a vision of blood blossoming across Peter's white shirt. He retracted the helmet and face mask and looked at Peter. Peter in his perfectly white dress shirt. "Pete?"

"I'm good." Peter looked up at Tony. "I'm ok." Peter retracted the web shooters and looked around at the pandemonium breaking our around them. His eyes landed back on Tony. "So when prom comes around, we're just going to stay in. Small party. MJ, Ned, maybe a few others. The team can come. It'll be fun."

"Yeah, no more dances." Tony forced a smile. "Go check on MJ while I get the police to clean up this." He gestured to the lump on the floor.

* * *

Tony finished talking to the police. He had kept his eyes focused on Peter the entire time. The students had been relocated to other areas of the school until their parents could pick them up. Peter and MJ had stayed in the gym. Jacket and tie abandoned, Peter was currently sitting on the bleachers with his legs stretched out in front of him, leaning on MJ who was sitting behind him. "You two ok?"

Peter nodded. "Are we allowed to leave yet?"

Tony shook his head. "It made the news. Happy is bringing MJ's parents here and will drive them and MJ home. He knows how to avoid the media."

Peter let out a little growl. "How long are we stuck here?"

"Not too long. Happy is about 5 minutes out." Tony studied Peter. Something was wrong but he wasn't sure what. "I need to check with Morita on a couple things. I think Steve and Bucky realized that his grandfather was in the same unit that they were in during the war. I'll be back in a few minutes and we can head home."

MJ leaned forward and kissed the top of Peter's head as they watched Tony walk out of the gym. "What's wrong. I can always tell when you're stuck in your head."

Peter sighed and leaned further into MJ. "Just a weird night." Content to sit there and let MJ play with his hair, he tried to get himself to calm down. He wasn't hyped like he was after a battle. But he was spun up and MJ was right, he was stuck in his head. He glanced over to the door when he saw Happy walk in with MJ's parents. They crossed the room quickly and Peter reluctantly sat up so MJ could move. Both of her parents pulled her into a hug then looked over at Peter.

"Thank you for keeping her safe."

Peter forced a smile. "Of course." He stood up an looked at MJ. "I'll text you later."

MJ untangled herself from her parents and leaned over and kissed Peter on the cheek. "Get out of your head." She whispered in his ear.

Peter watched Happy usher MJ and her parents out and looked around the empty gym. The silence was deafening. Grabbing his jacket and tie he pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed toward the exit.

* * *

Iron Man landed on the Coney Island boardwalk and retracted the suit. The kid was going to force him to go gray sooner rather than later. When he returned to the gym and found it empty he pulled up Peter's tracker. He had expected to see him with Happy or maybe headed home. Instead, the dot representing Peter was at Coney Island. Of course it was. He had known something was off and he should have stayed with him.

He could see Peter sitting on the back of a bench facing the water. Tony crossed the distance to the bench. If his kid just needed time alone he'd give it to him. But he wanted to make sure he was ok first.

Peter heard Tony land and couldn't help the tiny smile that crept across his face. He liked that Tony always sought him out. He knew he'd give him space if he asked for it but there was something comforting in the fact that he knew Tony would always check on him. When he heard him a couple paces behind him he scooted to the side which he hoped would be interpreted as an invitation to sit down.

Tony climbed on the back of the bench and settled next to Peter. The waves were soothing but he didn't think that was why Peter had ended up here. He glanced up and down the beach. A year ago it was a fiery disaster. Now, it was calm and peaceful. A lot had changed in a year.

After a few minutes Peter turned to look at Tony. "At least the beach isn't on fire."

Tony chuckled, "Yeah, I was just thinking how different it is from last year."

Peter got a somber look on his face, "A lot of things are different. I don't think I really realized that until tonight." Peter stared back at the ocean. "You know what I was doing the whole time the gunmen were there?" He paused and glanced at Tony. "I was evaluating targets. Looking for opportunities. Trying to figure out how to buy time until you got there."

Part of Tony died a little on the inside. The other part was extraordinarily proud that his kid handled himself so well. He just wish he never had to.

"Two years ago, I would have huddled in a corner with Ned and then gone home to May and Ben. A year ago, I probably would have done something that wasn't very well thought out. Maybe succeeded, maybe not. Still would have done something. Now...". Peter took a deep breath. "Something dawned on me as I was trying to convince that guy to take me and leave everyone else alone. I said 'my family would do anything to get me back'. And it hit me. There are people who would kill for me. Kill to protect me. Kill to avenge me."

Tony didn't even hesitate. "Damn right."

Peter looked over at Tony. "It's a lot to take in." He paused and took another deep breath. "Here's the problem. I'm afraid I would do the same thing to protect the people I care about. And that terrifies me."

Tony studied Peter's face. "I am probably not the best person to help you find your moral compass. My nickname earlier in life was the 'Merchant of Death'."

"Yeah you were also drunk off your ass during those years. Not sure you had the best judgement back then." Peter ducked when Tony took a playful swipe at the back of his head. "You're too hard on yourself. You hide it well from the world but when you see something wrong you fix it. Doesn't matter what you have to sacrifice to do it."

Sacrifice. The word itself scared Tony. Sacrifice. It was something Peter had done over and over again. Being Spider-Man he sacrificed being a regular teenager. A year ago he had sacrificed going to a high school dance with a girl he liked to take down a bad guy. Tonight he had been willing to let a bullet hit him in the chest to ensure MJ's safety. He wasn't sure Peter realized what could have happened if Tony hadn't landed in front of him. "Pete, there will come a time when you'll be faced with the having to kill someone to save someone. There will also come a time where you'll be faced with deciding between your life or someone else's life. I hope to God it's many, many years from now. I wish I could say you can do this and avoid those situation but after all I've seen I don't think it's possible." Tony paused and looked at Peter. "When it happens we can get through it together."

Peter stared out at the ocean and listened to the waves hitting the shore. "Right before you landed, when he pointed the gun at me, he said 'Who are you?'." Peter turned and looked at Tony. "I realized in that moment I know exactly who I am. I'm Spider-Man."

Tony chuckled, "Damn right."

Peter smiled. "I've struggled over the last couple months trying to reconcile my worlds colliding into each other. Trying to keep everything separate in my head is exhausting. When he asked me who I am, everything solidified into a single thought. Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same. I'm not saying I want my identity revealed, it's just I don't think I'm fighting myself any more to keep the two separate."

"Kid, I hate to tell you, you've been struggling with this longer than just a couple months." Tony nudged Peter with his shoulder. "None of this is easy, just remember you don't have to do it alone."

"I know." Peter smiled and looked back at the ocean.


	58. Chapter 58 - Paranoia

"I would just feel better if you had a backup tracker." Tony leaned on the lab table at the teen across from him.

"I have a tracker." Peter held up his wrist. "Plus you can track my car and my suits."

"After what happened a couple months ago at the school I just worry that it will happen again. And next time, I'll be left trying to find you." Tony was more than worried. Ever since the incident at Homecoming he had been increasingly concerned about Peter being kidnapped. Peter called it an irrational fear, although he was pretty sure the kid had thrown in some other descriptive words the first time it came up. Pepper said he was being paranoid but since she herself had been a target multiple times she also knew it wasn't outside the realm of possibilities.

"They weren't trying to kidnap me. They were trying for the kids with the rich parents who would pay ransom." Frustration was apparent in Peter's voice. The argument had been going on for weeks and was only getting worse.

"Yeah, hate to tell you, but that's you." Tony was just as frustrated as Peter was.

"No one in their right mind would kidnap Iron Man's...whatever." Peter growled.

"People have tried to kidnap Pepper so many times I've lost count. She has a tracker in her arm." Tony found a calm center and tried a different approach. "I've had a tracker in my arm since Afghanistan. FRIDAY can disable them if she needs to."

"You are not putting a tracker in my arm." Peter was indignant. "Plus I don't think the spider would let you. I got a splinter in my hand the other day and it was literally pushed out within an hour."

Tony threw up his hands. "Peter, you have got to understand that this is a legitimate concern."

Peter looked at Tony. His paranoia over Peter's safety had skyrocketed, but not about him getting hurt when he was Spider-Man. Homecoming had brought a couple changes. For starters, everyone at the school knew that Tony was his legal guardian. Peter wasn't sure how it got out. May and Tony had discussed whether it made sense to let it revert back to May but between various surgeries and doctors appointments they ultimately decided that Tony needed to maintain primary guardianship in case something happened while she was out of commission. Tony enjoyed the fact that it had gotten out at school way more than Peter did. It meant that he could go to the Academic Decathlon competitions and parent teacher conferences without having to hide or have accommodations made. For Peter it meant that Tony was at Every Single Academic Decathlon competition and at the school way more than was necessary. Tony didn't know how to do anything halfway. It had been a problem more than once. The other change surrounded Tony's fear about Peter getting kidnapped. There was no basis for it other than what had happened at Homecoming. It wasn't like Peter had been targeted. But, he recognized the look of genuine concern on Tony's face. "Look. I know you're worried. But come up with a different option than injecting a metal tracking device in my arm."

Tony took the compromise as a peace offering and wracked his brain for a passive tracker option. A memory popped into his head. Bruce had been able to track Loki's scepter because it emitted gamma radiation. The radiation that Peter's DNA had been dosed with was gamma, although it was a different type than Bruce's or even Loki's scepter. "Ok, I may have an idea."

* * *

Peter and Tony spent hours working through the theoretical side of building something that would allow FRIDAY to scan for Peter based on the low amount of gamma radiation he emitted. Peter now knew way more about gamma radiation than he thought was possible. Some of it was a little disconcerting, especially when you got into the health related issues. He knew the spider was taking care of all of it but it was still unsettling. It only took them a couple weeks to come up with a theoretical model. A couple weeks after that to have a prototype. A prototype that couldn't find Peter unless he was within 100 yards. Which meant they were back to square one.

Working on a passive tracker reduced Tony's anxiety about Peter's safety but it wasn't gone entirely. It had been a while since his irrational anxiety had reared its head. His therapist said it was his way of sabotaging his happiness and some other psychobabble that he tuned out after blaa blaa blaa. Pepper actually took the therapists' side but shed a little more light on it.

"You've been so focused on helping Peter over the last year that you didn't have time to freak out over anything. Now that your relationship with him is in a good spot and more importantly he's in a good place, your insecurities are trying to convince you that you shouldn't be happy." Pepper's eyes followed Tony as he paced the length of their bedroom.

Tony glanced over at Pepper. "Yeah, I can somewhat understand that. I mean after all the things I've done, why do I deserve any of this. You, Peter, SI, a functional team. I deserved what happened after Germany."

Pepper crossed her arms. "Tony, after all you've done...you mean save New York from the Chitauri, or maybe all you've done to rid the world of Hydra, or going after the Ten Rings, or AIM. Should I go on?"

Tony growled a little which Pepper only laughed at. "I think you picked that up from Peter." She waited until she had Tony's attention. Then walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You deserve to be happy. You deserve me and you deserve Peter and you deserve a team you can count on." Pepper tilted her head to side, "Although part of me wishes they hadn't moved back to the city with us."

Tony shrugged, "It's not permanent. I'm just upgrading some of the compound and it made more sense for them to just get out of the way instead of living in a construction zone."

Pepper pulled away, "Uh-huh, more like you got frustrated trying to come up a passive tracker and needed something to tinker with so you opted to redesign half of the compound." She walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers. "I'm going to sleep. You can choose to join me or be exhausted when we meet with the wedding planner tomorrow."

Tony rolled his eyes, "That may be the very last thing I want to do tomorrow."

"It's about security and it's the one you said you wanted to be involved in." Pepper adjusted her pillow and stretched out. "I'm tired. You haven't been sleeping great so I know you're tired too. Please come to bed?"

Tony sighed and crossed over to the bed, climbing under the covers. "I don't deserve you."

Pepper curled around him, "Yes you do."

* * *

Peter finished a bowl of cereal and poured a second one waiting for Tony to get through at least a couple sips of coffee. He knew he hadn't been sleeping great lately although he looked way better this morning than he had been. Peter loved the fact that Tony got up and ate breakfast with him. Sometimes Pepper ate with them. Sometimes Happy and May ate with them. When the team temporarily moved to the city, on occasion any one of them would come up and eat with them. This morning it was just Tony. Peter actually preferred mornings like this. Sometimes they just talked about their schedule for the day, other times they planned out paradigm shifting technologies. Either way made for a great morning, however last night Peter had an epiphany about the passive tracker. He just needed Tony awake enough to discuss. He figured he was about two sips of coffee away from that point.

"Spiderling, I can tell when you have something in your head ready to spill out...so spill...". Tony smiled over his cup of coffee.

Peter grinned, "I was thinking about the passive tracker and I think if we ramp up what we did and add amplification to the rays that were using to detect the radiation, it may give us the result we're looking for."

"You want to amplify the detection rays?" Tony thought about the processes involved.

"Yeah, we might have to try some different sources to see what interacts the best." Peter reached across the bar and grabbed a banana.

Tony looked at the banana in Peter's hand. "Like potassium?"

Peter smiled and finished his banana. Potassium was genius. The decay rates were compatible. "Like potassium. What do you think?"

"I think you're on to something. Want to work in the lab some his afternoon instead of going patrolling after school?" Tony put his coffee mug down.

"Yeah, shouldn't have homework today so I can patrol on the way home." Peter grabbed his dishes and took them to the kitchen.

"That's right, you have a field trip today. Sure you don't need a chaperon?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "We haven't had parent chaperones since grade school. Besides, it's MOMA, I don't see that being something you're overly interested in."

Tony smiled. "Yeah, art was always more Pepper's area. Besides she's making me go to some wedding thing this morning."

Peter slung his backpack over his shoulder. "So the running bet is that you're going to get frustrated with the whole wedding thing and you're going to convince Pepper to elope. I've got 4 months, Rhodey is giving you 6 months. Natasha and Steve both think you'll go through with the actual wedding."

Tony raised his eyebrow, "Seriously?"

Peter called over his shoulder, "Yep! See you this afternoon!"


	59. Chapter 59 - Bleed Through

**A/N: This is a piece that I posted as a separate story. When I first started writing this monstrosity of a story it was little snippets with a few self contained story arcs (like Bleed Through, Technovore and one that's coming up after this). I couldn't decide at the time if I wanted to post them as separate stories or just end up with one massive story. The deeper I got into this I realized it probably made more sense from a continuity view point to embed them. So, that's what I'm doing. If you read Bleed Through before this is where it fits in. I did some minor editing but nothing really changes.**

**You all have been amazing. I never thought I'd have this many people reading, following, and commenting! And for the ones that picked up on MOMA...yes!**

Orange. Dust. That's all he could see. Then he felt it. Agony. Not the type of pain he'd experienced from the wrong side of a fight, but heart wrenching, excruciating pain. He felt like he couldn't breathe. He had felt that pain before. It was what he'd felt when he thought Pepper was dead and it's what he felt when MJ had called him from the hospital. It's what he felt when he had been told that his mother was dead. He thought he had heard Peter's voice before, telling him he was sorry. Then he heard it again but it wasn't coming from his dream, it was pulling him out of his dream, _no_, he corrected, _this was a nightmare_. It was still Peter but it was coming from his room down the hall. Tony jerked himself awake. Scrambling up, he headed for Peter's room. Even if the whole thing had just been a dream, he still instinctively needed to make sure he was there. A cry of agony coming from Peter's room spurred him into a full run. Pushing the door open he saw Peter on the floor with his arms over his head. It was something he had unfortunately seen before. If the kid described his senses as dialed up to 11 on a regular basis, they were somewhere around 100 right now. "FRIDAY, Blackout Protocol now."

Tony crouched next to Peter. "What can I do to help." He could hear Pete's faint mumble.

"Hurts. Everywhere."

"Ok. Focus on me. Can you hear my heartbeat?" Tony wanted to reach out and pull the boy that he had come to think of as his kid into his arms to ground him and tell him it was ok. They were both ok. He knew he couldn't, not yet.

"Too fast." The mumbled response was stronger but still muffled from behind his arms.

Yeah, no shit. That's because he was terrified. His own dream had been bad enough. Watching Peter was so much worse. "We can calm down together then." Shifting closer he reached out his hand and hovered over Peter's shoulder. "Pete, I'm going to touch your shoulder, ok?" He saw the almost imperceptible nod and he reached down and gripped Peter's shoulder.

Peter sucked in a breath in response. He felt Tony start to pull away. "No, It's helping." He ground out the words because even though it made him feel better it was agonizing. Every molecule of his body hurt. He didn't even know how that could be but he knew without a doubt it was the right description. It had never been this bad before. Not even after the accident when his nerves would flare up and send him spiraling into overload. He focused on Tony's heartbeat, his own was intermixed in a reassuring cacophony of sound. Slowly, both heartbeats slowed to a somewhat normal pace. Tony's had a unique sound due to the old damage that Peter found reassuring. He could always pick Tony's heartbeat out, even in a roomful of people.

"Any better?" Tony asked quietly. From past experience Tony knew that while Peter could get control of his senses relatively quickly, he'd be out of commission for at least 24 hours. The after affects were just that bad.

"Getting there."

Peter's head was still safely nestled under his arms but Tony could feel his muscles starting to relax slightly. "FRIDAY, restrict access to this floor and let Pepper know what's going on."

"Access restricted." FRIDAY paused. "Boss, the same distress you and Peter experienced was experienced by others.

Peter turned his head slightly and looked at Tony. As dark as it was in the room Peter had no problem seeing Tony's face as he questioned FRIDAY.

"FRIDAY, explain. Who else."

"All of them." The response did nothing but heighten both Peter and Tony's anxiety.

"Pete, do you think you can handle Pepper sitting with you for a few minutes so I can find out what's going on?"

Peter nodded. "She's on the other side of the door." He could hear her heartbeat. He tilted his head slightly because there was something slightly different but his brain wasn't working yet.

Tony stood up and opened the door letting Pepper in. She took Tony's place at Peter's side. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Let me find out what's going on." He closed the door behind him and headed for the elevator. "FRIDAY, no one but me is allowed onto the floor. Take me wherever they are."

The elevator doors opened, but the scene in front of him was not what he was expecting. Wanda was in a ball on the floor, Sam and Bucky sitting next to her, Vision crouched in front of her. Rhodey, Nat, and Steve looked shaken. That was a description he never thought he'd use to describe any of them, but definitely not those three. "What's going on?"

Steve found his voice first. "We all had a nightmare. Sounds weird saying it out loud but...". His voice drifted off, not sure how to describe what happened.

Natasha shook her head, "It felt too real to be a nightmare. It's just flashes. Some kind of huge battle. We lost. I don't know how to explain it. I'm not even sure where we were."

"Wakanda. We were in Wakanda." Bucky stood up from his position next to Wanda.

Tony rolled what they were saying around in his head. He stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago. "Steve, reach out to T'Challa. Just to check. It may be nothing."

Steve nodded. "Tony, just curious, did you have the same dream."

Tony shook his head as he headed back to the elevator. "Pete and I both had a dream but we weren't in Wakanda." He needed to check on his kid.

* * *

Tony eased the door open. Peter's head was at least unburied from his arms. He crouched on the floor in front of them. "Any better?"

Peter nodded. "Hurts. Broke apart, put back together."

Pepper looked at Tony. "Everything ok downstairs?"

"I don't know." Tony hated to even ask, but he felt like it was important. "Pete, was it a nightmare that sent you into overload?"

Peter frowned, "Orange, dust, pain." The ability to put complete sentences together was way too much right now. His head was pounding.

Tony dropped his head. Something was definitely wrong. Bringing his head back up he patted Pepper's knee to get her attention. "Pete, let's try to get you back in bed."

Peter nodded. Pepper and Tony each took a side and pulled Peter somewhat to his feet. The kid seemed so small to Tony right now, even though he had gone through a growth spurt sometime in the last month and had bulked up a little. They got him onto the bed and in a somewhat straight position.

"Ok, is this a 'leave me alone' sensory recovery or a 'stay with me' sensory recovery?" Tony asked, hoping it was the latter. Something about the events of the night made him want to stay close to his kid.

"Stay." Peter opened one eye and looked at both adults standing next to his bed. "Both?" There was something comforting about the mix of heartbeats he could hear.

Pepper slid next to Peter and let him curl next to her while Tony walked around to the other side of the bed and pushed a pillow against the wall to lean against. Sitting down, he situated himself and relaxed, his hand automatically finding Peter's head. Carding his fingers through his curls he could feel Peter's muscles relaxing against him. It didn't matter what was going on. He was perfectly content to stay there as long as he needed to.

* * *

Tony slid his phone out of his pocket. Peter and Pepper were both asleep. Pepper curled up next to Peter protecting him from whatever would come his way. Peter was a little less elegant. He had rolled onto his side and currently had an arm thrown across Tony's knees. Sliding open a text he sent a message to Steve for an update. The reply was fairly quick. Wakanda had experienced something. No one knew what, but it seemed a lot like what they had experienced here. Another message popped up from Steve asking how Peter was doing. Tony looked down at Peter. His face was hidden by the mop of brown curls. He tapped a quick response and slid the phone back into his pocket.

Tony felt the shift of Peter's arm which jolted him back awake. He wasn't sure how long they had all been asleep, one of the perks of soundproofing and darkening Peter's room was that there was absolutely no intrusion from the outside world. Peter rolled slightly and croaked out "FRIDAY, lights at 5%".

Tony shifted to let Peter know he was awake before speaking. "How are you doing kid?"

"Better. I still hurt."

Tony swung his legs off the side of the bed and stood up so Peter wasn't trapped between him and Pepper. He could dimly make out Peter rolling fully on his back trying to work up to sitting. He finally swung his legs off the side of the bed and let gravity assist him until he was sitting shakily on the side of the bed. "I don't know why this was so much worse."

Tony leaned against the wall. "There's something else going on. Steve's been trying to get to the bottom of it."

Peter looked up. "Something else?"

Tony didn't want to load up Peter's brain with everything that had happened with Wakanda and the rest of the Avengers, at least not yet. "All I know is that you and I had the same nightmare and it sent you into the worst case of overload I've seen you go through."

Peter held Tony's eyes for a moment trying to read the expression on his face. He knew there had to be more going on but Tony was being protective. He rolled his shoulders and neck and realized how much his muscles hurt. "I going to try to take a shower. That'll give you time to check on things without having to worry about hiding it from me." Peter grinned up at Tony.

Tony shook his head and smiled. "You're a brat." He leaned over so he could look Peter in the eye. "In all seriousness, do you feel up to a shower?"

Peter nodded. "FRIDAY can monitor to make sure I don't pass out." He turned and looked over his shoulder at Pepper. "Do you want to let her stay asleep? This may be the best sleep she's gotten. You probably need to changing the protocol you use from Sleeping Baby to Blackout Protocol."

"Ok, now I know you're feeling better. I'll move her into our room. Don't kill yourself in the shower. Have FRIDAY get me if you need me." Tony walked around the bed and scooped up Pepper who only shifted slightly. She was obviously exhausted. He needed to pay more attention to the hours she was putting in. She apparently needed a vacation. As he reached the door, Peter stopped him.

"Tony, Dr. Strange was there. In the dream."

Tony paused and looked back at Peter. Now that he had mentioned it, he remembered Strange too. "I'll call him."

Tony put Pepper in bed, grabbed a cup of coffee, shot Strange a text, and headed downstairs. Everyone was still in the common area. Wanda looked better. She was curled up on the couch next to Vision. "Steve, anything new?"

"Nothing. Everything has settled down in Wakanda. How's Peter?" Steve had a tablet in his hands obviously monitoring everything he could gain access to for any kind of threat looming on the horizon.

"He's awake. In the shower trying to work some knots out of his muscles." Tony took a sip of coffee and grabbed the tablet from Steve.

"Tony, about the dream you and Peter had. If you weren't in Wakanda, where were you?"

Before Tony could respond, a familiar orange glow filled the corner of the common area. Dr. Strange stepped through. "He was on a planet called Titan."

The orange glow faded and Dr. Strange walked over to Tony and Steve.

Tony put down the tablet. He hadn't expected the man to materialize in the common area when he texted him earlier. "What's going on Strange?"

"Where's Peter?" Strange looked around the room, expecting to see the youngest member among the others. It was disconcerting that he wasn't there.

"He's upstairs recovering from the worst case of overload he's had." Tony wasn't in the mood to put up with much right now. "Again, what's going on?"

Dr. Strange sighed, "The only phrase I can use to describe it is bleed through across the multiverse."

"The what?" Steve moved next to Tony. His tone didn't carry the same bite but his concern was just as apparent.

"The multiverse. Different realities. The nightmares we all experienced was something another universe lived." Strange looked at the faces staring at him in disbelief.

Wanda uncurled slightly from the ball she was in. "Why?"

Strange walked over to Wanda and knelt in front of her, scrutinizing her face, there was a soft red glow fading from her eyes. "I believe it has something to do with the infinity stones. It's why you were affected so badly." He turned his head and looked at Vision.

Vision tilted his head. "I too was affected."

"That doesn't explain Pete. He's not tied to an infinity stone." Tony was getting irritated. Strange hadn't given him any answers, just more questions.

"Can I see him?" Strange looked up at Tony. He knew from experience the length Tony would go to in order to protect Peter. And if Tony wasn't there, he knew Peter would be protected by the rest of them.

"FRIDAY, can you ask Peter if he's up to joining us for a few minutes?"

Everyone noticed the lights dimming slightly as FRIDAY responded. "Peter will be down momentarily."

Strange noted that the AI sounded a little protective as well. The fact that it dimmed the lights without being asked spoke volumes.

The elevator doors slid open and Peter walked out, hair wet and his softest T-shirt and sweatpants on. His head still hurt but he had already been contemplating coming downstairs when FRIDAY asked him to. Peter walked over and positioned himself next to Tony.

"Peter, how are you feeling?" Strange studied the boy, looking for signs that would point him to what had happened to him.

"I've felt better." Peter assumed Tony had told everyone about the sensory overload. "Do we know what's going on?"

"Apparently the multiverse is bleeding across universes?" Tony looked at Strange for more of an explanation.

"Wait, the multiverse theory is correct? They haven't been able to prove it." Peter's excitement overshadowed how bad he felt.

"They don't have the benefit of the Time Stone. The multiverse is very much real. Our counterparts in another universe faced an enemy, Thanos, who wanted to use the infinity stones to destroy half of all living things in the universe. Your counterparts did not win. What everyone experienced last night here and in Wakanda was that defeat echoing through the multiverse." Strange had never been one to mince words. He could tell his revelation had completely thrown the group gathered in the room.

"This enemy - Thanos. Is he a threat to our universe?" Tony drove straight to the offensive. He didn't take losing very well, even if it had been in another universe.

"From what I've seen, Thanos left this timeline in 2014 to battle the other timeline five years after his initial decimation." Strange could tell his explanation was not providing clarity.

"That makes no sense. Why would you leave your timeline..." Tony stopped and thought about what he was saying. If the Thanos from their own timeline left to enter a timeline five years into the future that meant that someone had the ability to time travel.

Strange watched Tony work through what he had said. The man's mind never ceased to amaze him. He locked eyes with Tony. "They made a mess."

Steve looked between Tony and Strange. "Ok, fill the rest of us in."

"Our counterparts messed with time to fix what this guy Thanos had done. It's rippling through the multiverse." Tony started pacing. He would not have approved of something like that. And there was no way he wasn't involved.

"Actually, it wasn't the time jumping itself that's causing the problems. They just created different branch timelines. That universe no longer has infinity stones. It's unstable." Strange looked around the room. In the entirety of the earth, the people in this room were probably the only ones that could comprehend what had happened.

"So what exactly are we looking at?" Steve desperately wanted to get out of the arena of science and into cold hard threats.

"We could see inter dimensional riffs or we could just have some bad dreams periodically." Strange shrugged. "It's hard to tell what kind of effect this will have. The plus side is that we shouldn't have to face the same threat the other universe did since Thanos no longer exists in our universe."

Tony looked over at Peter. "You're being really quiet about this. I somewhat expected a lot more excitement over the idea that time travel is possible."

Peter shook his head. "It's just wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff." The statement resulted in an eye roll from Tony. "What? It's a good show. Seriously though, this is a problem. You would have never agreed to help develop time travel. You know how dangerous it is. While you're completely fine risking your own life, you're absolutely against risking anyone else. Which means this got bad."

Tony smiled, his kid didn't doubt for a moment that he could develop time travel. Tony also knew Peter was thinking along the same lines he was, despite the Doctor Who quotes. He saw Strange watching them from across the room. There was more the man knew that he wasn't telling.

"So no current threat?"

Strange nodded to Steve's question. "Just a warning to view anything that does crop up as potentially related to these events."

"I'll go talk to T'Challa. Try to explain this." Steve left the room, most of the rest of the group trailing in his wake. It was going to be a team effort to try to explain what had happened. Vision and Wanda had left a few minutes before. The experience had drained her.

Having the room to themselves Strange knew Tony would have questions. And concerns. Strange himself was more worried about how Peter was doing. He was pretty sure Tony hadn't connected those dots yet. He was glad no one else was around to see because he knew as soon as he asked a couple questions Tony and Peter would put it together. He considered leaving it alone but his concern over the lingering effects on Peter pushed him towards the duo. "Peter, how are you feeling?"

"Like I got ripped apart, which is exactly what happened in that timeline isn't it."

Hiding his surprise at how quickly Peter had figured it out he simply nodded. Tony on the other hand was still piecing it together. Strange figured that part of his brain refused to acknowledge what had happened to the other Peter.

Peter looked at Tony. "It's why the other you agreed to help with time travel. I was part of the decimation?" He looked over at Strange for confirmation of the term and his conclusion.

Strange again nodded. "I'm curious, how did you come to that conclusion."

"Last night I remembered thinking all of my molecules hurt. It was an odd thing to think. Now that I can think a little clearer that exactly what happened to the other me." Peter frowned at the thought.

"It's very likely your healing factor fought it off for a little while at least. I think it's what made it so much worse." Strange kept the rest of it to himself. He was pretty sure Peter's spider sense would have told him he was about to die as well.

Tony's brain caught up with what Peter and Strange has said. His stomach lurched at what they had described. He thought back to his own nightmare and understood the agony he had felt. His kid had died. That single thought almost drove him into a panic attack. Peter must have heard his heart start to race because he felt Peter's hand on his shoulder. "Tell me this can't happen in this timeline." Tony's eyes pleaded with Strange for reassurance.

"The stones exist. And because they exist this could always happen. But, the fact that we know of the possibility means we can prepare for it." Strange knew it wasn't the answer Tony was seeking but it was the only one he had. Destroying even one of the stones wasn't a solution. One unstable universe was enough.

* * *

Steve and the rest of the Avengers managed to somewhat relay what Strange has told them to T'Challa. He wasn't happy but was content to play it by ear. Natasha met with Fury about starting to implement various defenses that could combat a cosmic threat. She was surprised that he wasn't more bothered by the events. She was slightly less bothered that he already had the beginnings of a plan. Tony and Peter returned upstairs. Since no one had slept in about 24 hours everyone was heading to bed early. Peter still had a headache and he ached everywhere but he and Tony raided the refrigerator and settled into the couch to watch a movie. Pepper joined them and the three sat comfortably on the couch eating leftovers and mindlessly watching a movie that none of them were paying attention to.

Tony looked over and saw Peter staring at Pepper halfway through the movie. "What's wrong?" After the events of the last 24 hours he didn't want to take any chances.

"You know how I can always pick your heartbeat out because of the damage?"

Tony nodded, not quite sure where Peter was going.

"Last night when I was in the middle of sensory overload there was something odd. I could hear everyone's heartbeats, mine, yours, Pepper's. But there was something different and I think I know what it was." Peter was almost giddy with excitement.

"Ok, you're starting to freak me out a little bit."

Pepper just looked at the two. They hadn't told her all of the details, she just knew they were both a little on edge and needing to stay in relative proximity. She had learned long ago to just roll with the punches with Tony. Peter just added a few more required rolls to the mix. "What?"

"There's another heart beat!" Peter looked at the two triumphantly. "I didn't pick up on what it was at first. My brain was a little jumbled and it's much quieter and a little faster than Pepper's so it took me a while to figure it out."

Pepper stared at Peter and the color drained out of her face. "What?"

Tony just looked shell shocked. His brain was well on its way to shutting down. He looked between Peter and Pepper. "Another heartbeat?"

"Yep!" Peter was thrilled.


	60. Chapter 60 - Malfunctioning Spidey Sense

Peter flipped off a building and flung a web, catching the side of another building on his descent. He made his way down the avenue and landed on the top of a moderately tall building. Usually swinging through the city made him feel good. It wasn't something easily explained, call it a release of endorphins or a sense of freedom, either way he loved the feeling. Right now, even swinging wasn't making him feel better. He crouched on the edge and looked around. His Spidey sense had been going off almost nonstop all day. He was dreading the grade he was going to end up with on his English Lit test. It had actually been going off at random times for the past week but today it was almost nonstop. It was enough that he was starting to get a headache. Deciding that heading home was a better option he plotted a course and headed for the nearest train. He could ride the roof and not have to actually swing across the bridge to get home.

"Hey kid!" Tony glanced up as Peter walked into the lab. "You're home earlier than normal."

Peter crossed over to where Tony was. He had stopped upstairs and changed out of his suit. "Bad day. Just a heads up, I may have failed my English Lit test."

"Bad day as in you got in a fight with MJ?" Tony wasn't overly concerned about English Lit, he was more concerned about the bad day.

"No, MJ and I are fine. My Spidey sense has been weird all day."

"Weird how?" Tony glanced back down at the mini arc reactor he couldn't let go of at the moment. Neither one of them needed an explosion to deal with right now. Getting it to the point where he could set it down he glanced up at Peter.

"It's going off all the time." Peter leaned over the worktable watching Tony work on Natasha's electroshock gauntlets. He reached over and flipped open the door covering the old mini arc reactor so Tony could reach it without having to let go of the probe he had picked up.

"But it's still working like it normally does, right?" Tony frowned as he maneuvered the old arc reactor out of the housing.

"Yeah. No issues last night, except it was constantly on. Ramped up when I needed it but other than that it's just like this uneasy feeling like I need to be on guard. The only time it's not going off is here." Peter sat down in the chair next to the table and stretched out his legs.

Tony put the probe down and looked at Peter. The fact that his Spidey sense was going off was troubling. Peter had issues with it before but Tony thought it was related more to learning to trust it and not that it was acting up. This seemed different. "Ok, have Karen send FRIDAY your suit feeds and let her scour them. Maybe she can find something to explain it."

"It's not just when I'm in the suit. It's at school, the subway. All the time."

"It goes off when you're out of the suit?" Tony realized he should been paying closer attention. Peter had mentioned that it was bothering him all day but he hadn't realized he meant that it was triggering outside of the suit. That piece of information was even more disturbing. Tony sat down on a stool, deep in thought. "But not here?"

Peter shook his head. "This is the only place it's not going off."

"That's because this place is more secure than just about any other location in the world. If it's not going off here it's because the spider knows you're safe. So, that should rule out some kind of cataclysmic event. Which means someone is after you. Not just Spider-Man, but you." Tony's worry ratcheted up a notch. Someone knew Peter's identity. "Ok, you're grounded."

"What? No! MJ and I are going to the movies tonight."

"Movie night with the Avengers. One of us is driving you to and from school too. And, if you go out as Spider-Man, one of us is going with you." Tony stood up and started pacing, working through other security measures he'd need to put into place.

"That's not fair! This is exactly why I don't tell you things. You overreact." Peter was out of his chair as well.

"Pete, it was bad enough for you to say something which means it's probably even worse. If it's going off both in and out of the suit it means someone knows that you...Peter Parker... are Spider-Man. Someone the spider considers to be a threat."

* * *

Peter sat on the couch with his arms crossed. MJ had even abandoned him to his bad mood. She was currently talking to Natasha about whatever in the kitchen. He was supposed to be in a dark movie theater, watching a movie with MJ. Not in his living room with a large number of Avengers, MJ, Pepper, and Tony. Bucky dropped on the couch next to him. "I'm driving you to school Monday."

Peter turned and glared at him. "I am capable of getting to school by myself."

"There's a schedule. It's posted on the refrigerator downstairs." Bucky was starting to feel bad for the kid. He could see the muscles in Peter's jaw tightening. "We can stop and get donuts."

"You know this is crazy, right?" Peter looked down and realized the coke can he had been holding was completely flattened in the middle.

"Tony is ridiculously overprotective when it comes to you but in this case there's no reason not to take extra precautions. If it turns out that your Spidey sense is just malfunctioning you can remind him of this every time he tries to go overboard. If not, " Bucky shrugged, "at least you'll have backup."

"Is there a schedule for who gets to go with me if I go out as Spider-Man?" Peter couldn't keep the frustration out of his voice.

"Actually, we suggested to Tony that we do some training as a team this weekend. He seemed to think it might be a good idea. I think partially because he doesn't want to try to keep you inside and really the only people who can keep up with you are Rhodey and Sam. Well, besides Tony, but he seemed to think you're too mad at him to let him go out with you." Bucky took a sip of his beer and glanced sideways at Peter.

"I'm not mad at him." Peter grumbled. He was frustrated. There was a difference. Getting mad at Tony tended to burn out quickly. He glanced over at the kitchen that now included Pepper and Tony. "I'm just not talking to him right now."


	61. Chapter 61 - Skrulls?

After the third day of Avengers driving him to school Peter was in such a bad mood he seriously thought about skipping school. He could give his watch to Ned and let him take it from class to class, but knowing Tony he'd look past the fact that his tracker was in school and actually look at where he was within the school. And since he and Ned didn't have all of their classes together it really wasn't an option. The uneasy feeling was still there. Natasha had quizzed him all the way to school about when his spidey sense usually went off. She thought he was being watched but couldn't find anything on Karen's feeds or see anything herself...which drove her nuts. On the plus side Sam was going to meet him on the roof of a nearby building and let him patrol and swing home after school. He had tried patrolling with Rhodey Monday night with disastrous results. He was hoping Sam was a little easier to work with.

* * *

Sam perched on top of one of the higher buildings in Queens. "I cannot believe you find this fun." He watched Spider-Man swing down a side street. The deal was Peter couldn't get more than two blocks ahead of him. He had already watched the kid stop an attempted burglary and a purse snatching. "There is something seriously wrong with you." Peter had now switched to free falling from buildings and swinging to lower rooftops.

"You should try it sometime. You may actually like it." Peter waited for Sam to land next to him.

"Nah, my wings don't work the same way." He watched Peter scan the streets. At least it seemed like he was maybe blowing off some steam. He wasn't quite as grumpy as he had been. He saw Peter tilt his head to look at something so he redirected his eyes to locate what had caught the kids attention. "Ok, your eyesight is definitely better than mine. What did you see."

Peter shook his head. "I don't know. I thought I saw something in the alley, then my Spidey sense ramped up." Peter flung his wrist out, shooting a web to catch the edge of the roof next to them and swung off the roof.

"Kid! Wait!" Sam still had no idea what Peter had seen or even which alley he had seen it in so he had to simply follow him.

Peter landed in the mouth of the alley and peered into the opening. Like many alleys in Queens the height of the buildings made it somewhat dark and it was cluttered with dumpsters and debris from the businesses in the adjoining buildings.

Sam landed behind him and folded his wings so he could move in the confined area. "What did you see?"

Peter gazed around. "Karen, scan for Scrull signatures."

"Negative for Skrull energy signature."

Peter kept peering into the shadows of the alley. His Spidey sense was completely ramped up, almost to a painful level. He finally spotted movement towards the back corner. Setting both web shooters to the last taser setting he had used on the Skrulls, he walked toward the back. He heard Sam curse behind him but knew he was staying back to allow for more maneuverability if something did happen. Last thing they needed was for both of them to be boxed in. Peter got within five feet of the dumpster his quarry was hiding behind. Karen had already picked up the heat signature. "Why are you following me?"

Peter wasn't sure what he expected but a cackle coming from behind the dumpster wasn't it. Of course he had never heard the Skrulls speak either.

Sam definitely didn't know what to expect so when a creature rose from behind the dumpster every weapon he had came out.

Peter fired two webs simultaneously expecting to hit the creature. Instead, what he and Sam would later identify as a smoke bomb was tossed in front of him temporarily obscuring his vision. When the smoke cleared, the creature was gone.

* * *

Tony, Natasha, and Steve reviewed their footage for what seemed like the tenth time. While Tony and Peter were the only two that had seen the Skrulls in person, Natasha and Steve had reviewed the original footage multiple times after the initial scuffle in Central Park with the Kree. Peter stood in the back with Sam and Bucky. Peter wasn't sure what Tony expected to see on the tenth time that he didn't see on the first nine. Karen had only picked up a brief image of the creature. After the footage finished, Tony glanced over his shoulder at Peter and Sam. "Thoughts?"

Sam put his hands up and shook his head. He didn't have the foggiest idea what to think. Aliens were a little outside his expertise.

Peter had his arms crossed. "It makes zero sense that they would be targeting me. The ones from before weren't all that interested in me. Plus, this one seemed a little different."

Steve looked back at the screen and pulled up a still from Peter's feed from the original battle. "Still green. They both have pointed ears. The one from today has slightly bigger ears." He pointed against the one from earlier in the day.

"That doesn't explain what they're after." Peter walked forward and looked at the screens. Both figures displayed looked very much like aliens. But there was something about the one from today that seemed off. "And, Karen never picked up any of the same signatures we had seen earlier." He turned and looked at Tony, "Plus, why wouldn't they be camouflaged as a human? Why show yourself?"

Tony looked at Peter. Honestly, he was just happy the kid was talking to him again. He had been thinking that maybe he had overreacted, but then this happened. Skrulls were pretty far down on his list of things that would have been targeting Peter. And the list was pretty damn long. "Good points but I don't think anyone here has the answers." He turned and looked at Natasha.

"I'll call Fury." Natasha had anticipated Tony's next comment. Out of everyone on the planet, Fury was the only one who seemed to know anything about the Skrulls.

* * *

Peter closed the refrigerator door knowing that Tony had planted himself in one of the kitchen stools. He had been able to avoid him most of the week. Now that he was sitting in front of him, Peter knew he had to break the silent treatment he had been giving Tony. "I still think you overreacted."

Tony shrugged. "Maybe, but if it means that you don't get hurt I can deal with you being mad at me for a couple days."

"I wasn't mad. I'm frustrated. There's a difference." Peter hopped up on the counter-top and faced Tony. "This whole thing is just weird."

"Agreed. I think we're missing a huge piece of what's going on. So please, stop fighting me on making sure you're protected."

Peter let out a tiny growl. "Fine. Who's my babysitter tomorrow?"

"Natasha." Tony smirked at Peter's frown.

"I was hoping it would be Bucky. He stops for donuts."


	62. Chapter 62 - The Return

Peter grudgingly put up with babysitters to and from school. He was pretty sure that when Bucky or Natasha drove him they sat in front of his school. All. Day. Long. They were probably the only two on the team patient enough to do it. Clint would have been an excellent choice but he had been home with Laura on an extended leave of absence.

Patrolling in the afternoons or even at night had come to a roaring halt. It wasn't that Sam and Tony wouldn't go with him. Rhodey was the only one who flat out refused after the first time. It's just that it wasn't something that worked great as a duo, especially when one of the team carried a ridiculous amount of fire power. Tony had gone out with Peter one time and one time only. When Iron Man lands in front of a purse snatcher the whole thing tends to get blown out of proportion and ends up on the evening news. From that point on, Peter refused to go out with anyone. So, the team was left trying to distract him because on top of all it, his spidey sense was still going off anytime he was anywhere other than home.

Tony hadn't told May or Pepper what was going on. May had spent the last month in Germany for surgery and follow up treatment. Right after Peter had told Tony there was a problem, Pepper had headed to the west coast and then Hong Kong preparing for her impending leave of absence. Tony and Pepper had agreed, after multiple weeks of negotiating, that when Pepper hit the third trimester she was going to stay close to home. As good of a negotiator as Pepper was, Tony was that much more overprotective. Peter had enjoyed sitting back and watching someone other than him argue with Tony about his tendency to go overboard.

Both were due back this afternoon so Tony was trying to figure out how to explain why Peter was acting like a caged animal without worrying either of them. He was opting to play it off as just precautions until they could figure it out and Peter was all for downplaying what was going on. It was nice to not be at odds with each other.

* * *

Pepper was the first one back and it took all of five minutes for her to realize something was wrong. She patiently listened to Tony rattle off all of the security measures he had put into place, Peter nodding in agreement that of course he was complying with all of Tony's added security and assuring her that he wouldn't dream of leaving the building without at least one Avenger with him.

"Maybe we should pull him out of school until this settled down."

Peter looked at Tony, his eyes pleading for him to not agree with Pepper.

"Pep, he's going stir crazy here already. He's safe at school. There's always someone nearby so if he does have any problems we can be there in less than a minute." Tony smiled at the look of relief on Peter's face.

Pepper looked between the two. She didn't like it but she also knew Peter didn't take well to being confined. "Ok. But I think maybe two of you need to stick close to the school. Think you can work it out?"

Tony nodded his agreement. Peter simply sighed, resigned to the fact that if this didn't get figured out soon, there would eventually be Avengers sitting in class with him.

"Does May know yet? Aren't she and Happy due back this afternoon?" Pepper adjusted in her chair. She was only five months pregnant and was already incredibly uncomfortable. She couldn't imagine what another couple months were going to be like.

"They land in about an hour." Peter perked up. When he talked to May last night she sounded great and by all reports surgery went as planned. She was still having to use the braces to walk but she was getting more feeling back and more mobility. He couldn't wait to see her.

"May does not know." Tony added. "We didn't want to have her worry while she was so far away."

Pepper nodded. "Why don't we all have dinner up here tonight and we can catch up. You two can continue to reassure us that you're taking all of the proper precautions." She shifted a little again causing Tony to frown. "It's just your daughter kicking. She's worried about Peter too."

* * *

Dinner was fine. May knew Tony had security handled. Peter caught sight of Happy talking to Tony afterwards and wondered if Happy wasn't going to end up sitting in the office at school. The whole thing was getting tiresome but he put a good face on it for May and Pepper. Neither one of them needed the added stress of worrying about him.

* * *

Peter wasn't sure how much more he could handle having his Spidey sense always on. Tony wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to handle the constant worry. As much as he wanted it to end, he wasn't prepared for the next thing that cropped up. Happy had driven May and Pepper to lunch so when he texted Tony a couple hours later and asked him to meet him in the first floor conference room his first response was to pull up Peter's tracker. Safe and sound in chemistry, the last class of the day. All vitals normal. Pulling open the door the first thing he noticed was the look on Happy's face and the fact that he had his jacket intentionally unbuttoned, conveniently showing the shoulder holster. Eyes checking down on the rest of the room he saw fury in Pepper eyes and concern on May's face. He then turned his attention to the fourth person in the room. He understood the looks the both women had. Sitting at the table was he previously thought to be dead Richard Parker.

* * *

Natasha and Steve we're waiting for Peter after school. Natasha frowned at the depressed look on Peter's face. "So, your spidey sense goes off at school, right?"

"It's just like this dull buzz but never stops. Any other time it either starts as a buzz and then goes into full combat mode or it goes away." Peter shrugged. He couldn't figure out how to make it stop. It was just always on.

"Is there anywhere in your school that you haven't been since this started?"

Peter thought about it, "Well, there are some freshman and sophomore classrooms that I don't go into. I think there's a basement where all of the mechanical stuff is." He cycled through the last month. "Oh, I haven't had to go to the office for anything lately."

Steve chuckled. "Count that as a good thing." He glanced over at Natasha, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that if we're dealing with Scrulls we know they have the ability to shape shift. Maybe there's one impersonating a teacher or one of the office staff."

Peter leaned forward from the back seat. "That makes a lot of sense. Tony swept the school for any kind of surveillance equipment the first week. We weren't thinking Skrulls then." Peter paused and looked at Natasha. "But how does that do us any good. We don't have a great way of detecting them."

"Fury is working on it. He may have something in a couple days. If he does, I want to come in and check your school."

Peter sat back and sighed. As much as he wanted the buzz to stop at school he was not looking forward to Avengers sweeping his school for aliens in the middle of the day.

Steve glanced in the rear view mirror as he was pulling into the underground parking of the tower they were now calling home, "We won't let Tony come and we'll keep it completely under the radar. You won't even know we're there."

Peter doubted that but decided he would prefer for the constant buzz to stop. Getting out of the car he headed for the elevators. "FRIDAY, where's Tony?"

"1st floor conference rooms. Would you like me to take you there?"

Peter frowned. They had built out the first floor to give Pepper some office space close to home. He didn't think anyone was using it though. "Yes, please. Thanks FRIDAY"

Exiting the elevator, he headed down the hall towards the conference room. He pulled open the frosted glass door and his Spidey sense flew into full combat mode. His eyes immediately traveled to Tony like they always did, then moved to the stranger in the room. Except the face wasn't one he didn't recognize. It was a face he had seen before and never expected to see again in person. A face he only remembered seeing in pictures. He looked back over at Tony and bolted from the room.

Tony followed Peter into the hall. He recognized the signs of a panic attack. Grabbing Peter's hand he placed it on his chest. "Pete, I need you to slow down your breathing. Match mine." He could tell Peter was in full panic mode along with his senses being completely dialed up.

Peter locked eyes with Tony. "Get Pepper and May out of there. My Spidey sense is in full combat mode."

"Happy is in there with them. I'm more worried about you." Tony watched Peter struggle to get his breathing under control.

"Tony, what the hell?" Peter tightened his fingers in Tony's shirt.

"If I were to guess, who ever is trying to get to you is getting impatient. I have no idea how they're pulling off masquerading as Richard Parker." Tony put both hands on Peter's shoulders to help ground him.

Peter glanced up at Tony. The panic he was feeling was starting to subside. "Tony, what if..."

"Pete, like everything else, we'll deal with it together. I have some ideas. Think you can wait for me in the lab?"


	63. Chapter 63 - DNA

Tony returned to the conference room once FRIDAY had confirmed Peter had made it to the lab. May still looked like she was shell shocked. Pepper stood up, "Is Peter ok?"

Tony chose his words carefully. He very much thought the enemy was seated a couple feet away from where he was standing. "He's fine. Why don't you two go upstairs."

Pepper walked over to May's chair and reached her hand down to take hers. May was capable of walking by herself but both of them needed a little bit of support. Pepper saw Tony glance over at Happy and knew immediately that Happy was staying with Tony which made her feel immensely better.

Tony waited for the door to close behind the two women before facing the man seated at the table. "If you hurt any of them in any way I will make sure your body is never found."

"Mr. Stark, I as mentioned earlier I am only interested in seeing Peter. When I regained my memory my first thought was of him." The man sitting at the table looked up at the imposing men standing across from him.

"And I'm well known for my paranoia and eccentricity. So, I'm sure you won't mind giving me a sample of your DNA."

The man sitting at the table smiled. "As a geneticist I can appreciate the scientific approach. Will a hair do or would you prefer a cheek swab?"

Tony walked over the cabinet at Happy was standing next to and grabbed a glass. "A hair will be fine." He walked over to the man, holding the glass out.

The man reached up and plucked several strands of hair and dropped them into the glass. "DNA is truly remarkable. It can show us so many things about ourselves."

Tony turned and headed for the door. "Happy, show our guest out."

* * *

"FRIDAY, run a paternity test on the sample." Tony looked over at Peter and smiled. The kid looked nervous as hell. They both knew there was no way Richard Parker was alive and that the person that had presented himself as Peter's father was an impostor but there was still something about it that made the kid nervous.

"Paternity results on recent sample, Negative."

Tony heard Peter let out a sigh of relief. He was so focused on Peter that he stopped paying attention to FRIDAY.

"Paternity test results on original sample...".

Tony's eyes widened as he realized what FRIDAY had done. "FRIDAY, stop" but he didn't get the order out before FRIDAY finished her sentence.

"Positive."

Tony's face paled. He looked at the confusion on Peter's face and he knew their world was about to change.

"FRIDAY, explain." Peter knitted his brow in confusion and waited for FRIDAY to continue.

"Original paternity sample was a positive match to Peter Benjamin Parker's DNA adjusted to compensate for mutation."

FRIDAY's answer hadn't provided Peter with any more clarity. "FRIDAY, what was the original sample?"

Tony stared at the table in front of him. He already knew the answer. It was the only other sample in the system. He had never run it. Part of him hadn't wanted to know and he didn't think Peter was ready to know."

"Anthony Edward Stark"

Tony looked up at his kid. His kid that he considered to be his kid regardless of biology. Biology that had just surprised them both, although if Tony were honest, he had suspected for a while. The look on Peter's face almost crushed him.

Peter pushed back from the table, turned and walked out of the lab.


	64. Chapter 64 - Seventeen Years

"Pete...". Tony called out to an empty room as the lab door closed behind Peter. "Damn it." Tony muttered. He had no idea what to do. Going after Peter was probably not the correct course of action. If Peter wanted his help processing, he wouldn't have walked out. He also didn't want him doing something rash out of anger or confusion. "FRIDAY, let me know if Peter tries to leave the building."

He wasn't sure how long he stared at the lab table. His mind was frozen on the fact that Peter was very much his son. His biological son. Seventeen years ago he had been a mess. Seventeen years ago he definitely would have been traveling in the same circles as Richards and Mary Parker. Seventeen years. It was a long time. So many things he had missed out on, although he knew even seven or eight years ago he hadn't been capable of being the father Peter deserved. Hell, he wasn't sure if he could ever be the father Peter deserved. He thought he had been doing ok lately, acting in a parental role, but it all the sudden felt so much weightier. It was a weight he realized he wanted. It grounded him. Peter was his son. He pushed back from the table. His son that someone was targeting. Wallowing in self recrimination and doubt wasn't going to keep Peter safe.

* * *

"Nat, I need you to find out if Fury has any DNA information on the Skrulls."

Natasha looked up from tablet she was studying while eating a sandwich. "Ok. Fury thinks he has something that can detect Skrulls. I'll get him to send whatever DNA date he has too." She looked at Tony's face. He could definitely be abrupt, especially if he was in the middle of working on something so the tone and the question didn't bother her. But there was a look in his eyes that she couldn't identify. "What's wrong?"

"You mean other than the fact that someone is targeting Peter?" Tony reached down and grabbed a blueberry off her plate. "Everything is peachy."

Natasha knew better but she also knew better than to push Tony.

"You haven't seen Peter, have you?"

Ah, so whatever was wrong had to do with Peter and not just the current threat. "Not since bringing him home." She watched Tony nod and walk back to the elevators. When the elevator doors closed she glanced up at the ceiling. "FRIDAY, has Peter left the building?"

"No, Agent Romanoff. Peter is currently on the roof."

Natasha frowned. Peter and Tony had gotten in a fight. She had realized shortly after starting to spend time with Peter that he always went high when he was brooding or thinking things through. Clint did the same thing. Clint said it gave him perspective. In Peter's case she thought it was probably more because it was quieter and not many people could or would follow him. "FRIDAY, let me know if Peter leaves the building."

* * *

Peter heard Tony walk up behind him. He was actually surprised he hadn't sought him out earlier. Tony sat down on the ledge next to him but didn't say anything. Like he was content to wait on Peter. After what seemed like forever Peter broke the silence. "I'm sorry I walked out."

Tony shrugged. "It's a lot to process. These last couple weeks haven't been easy."

Peter looked over at Tony. He opened his mouth to say something but shut it almost immediately. Staring back at the street below him he realized he had no idea what to say.

"The last thing I wanted was for you to get hurt. I never ran it myself because I knew neither one of us would feel good about either answer." He felt Peter stiffen next to him. "That's not what I mean. Think about it. If the answer was no, I'd feel let down. I've thought of you as my kid for a while now - regardless of DNA. I didn't need a paternity test to tell me that. But, you also know that I'd overthink the whole thing." Tony smiled in response to the small smile that appeared on Peter's face. "If the answer was yes, as happy as that would make me, I'd feel like I failed you because I wasn't there earlier." He let it sink in before continuing. "For you, I didn't want you second guessing anything about your life. Mary and Richard Parker, the real Richard Parker, loved you. Ben Parker loved you. May loves you."

Peter sucked in a breath. "I don't know what to do with this. I've been a Parker for 17 years. I never really knew my parents. I just have vague memories that are probably more from seeing pictures that May had. But everything I thought I knew is wrong."

"Not wrong. Peter, Richard and Mary Parker will always be your parents. Now, I just get to call you mine too." Tony watched Peter process and realized all of this was going to take time. Peter's life was just completely upended. Tony was just happy that he was talking to him.

Peter took another deep breath. "What made you think to run a paternity test anyway?" He looked over at Tony to gauge his response.

Tony held out a picture and waited for Peter to take it.

"I don't remember this being taken." Peter frowned at the picture.

"That's because it's not you. It's me. Roughly your age." Tony smiled when Peter looked over at him. "I was cleaning out one of the storage rooms and found a box of my dad's stuff. I found the picture when I was going through it. The resemblance is remarkable. It's when I first put my sample into the system. But I never ran it because I liked the way things were. I was already acting like your parent, the DNA didn't matter."

Peter smiled at Tony's comment about acting like a parent. Ever since the car accident their relationship had been completely different. They were close before. After the accident it's like Tony's parenting instincts kicked in. And then after Homecoming they ramped up even more. It was truly enjoyable to see the look on some classmates' faces when Tony Stark walked into their classroom for some parent event or when he showed up at the Academic Decathlon competitions. "I liked the way things were too. It's all going to change isn't it?"

"Maybe. I'm a little more concerned with what's going on right now. We can deal with whatever comes of this together. I just want to make sure we're ok." Tony paused, "We are ok, aren't we?"

Peter forced a smile. "We're ok. It'll take some time to get used to." He paused, "Who else knows?"

"FRIDAY. We can decide who to tell when, although I suggest bringing Pepper and May into the loop sooner rather than later."

Peter swung his legs over the side of the ledge he was sitting on and hopped down on the roof. "You know this still doesn't solve our original problem of proving that this guy is an impostor."

Tony stood up from the ledge. "I know. Natasha mentioned that she thought Fury had something that would detect Skrulls. She's going to get him to send over the DNA data he has. Hopefully he has a DNA indicator that we can use."

"Yeah, she wants to come to school when she gets whatever it is Director Fury is working on and scan for Skrulls. She thinks that's why my spidey sense is going off at school. That one of them is impersonating a teacher or someone in the office." Peter walked towards the door leading back inside with Tony walking next to him. If he could just focus on the problem at hand he could deal with the rest of it later.


	65. Chapter 65 - The Attack

Tony and Peter stared at the screen. The data Fury had provided had helped them analyze their visitors' DNA. They had identified an addition that had similarities to Skrull DNA but wasn't identical to the sample Fury had provided. Tony was incredibly curious where Fury had gotten not only Skrull DNA but also a normal person's DNA compared to the DNA of a Skrull shape shifted into that person. If Tony cared anything about genetics he could have spent hours studying the samples. What he cared about was proving that their visitor had been an impostor. "I think the addition to the strand proves that whoever our visitor was, he's not human." Tony glanced over at Peter. Tony spent a lot of time second guessing everything he said and did around Peter. He felt like he was walking on egg shells.

Peter nodded. "It's weird that it doesn't match. It's like it's been altered." He glanced over at Tony before looking back at the screen. "But, yeah, I think it's safe to assume he's a shapeshifter."

Tony sat back in his chair and looked over at Peter. He could see the evidence of the strain of the last couple weeks etched in his face. He knew the constant buzz of his spidey sense going off was wearing on him. Fury had also delivered a device capable of detecting a Skrull. Natasha and Steve had gone through Peter's school earlier that day. True to their word they had done it without the student body knowing they were there. The only reason Peter knew was because halfway through third period the ever present buzz telling him he was in danger stopped. The receptionist in the office had been an impersonator. When she knew she had been caught she ran. Natasha and Steve had lost her once she had gotten outside. Being able to shift your appearance at will made trailing someone challenging. The detector Fury had provided only worked within 20 or 30 feet which made using it out in the open impossible. "How was the rest of school once your spidey sense stopped triggering."

Peter shrugged. "It's nice to have somewhere other than here where it's quiet." Peter smiled, "It's also nice that Pepper and May can't keep pushing to pull me out of school until this is over. I was a little worried that I was going to have Avengers sitting in class with me."

Pepper and May had taken Tony and Peter's revelation in stride. Both women had seen it as just science supporting the relationship that already existed. They had responded way better than either Tony or Peter had. Where Tony was now second guessing everything he said and did, Peter had buried it. They just didn't talk about it. "I don't know, it might have been entertaining to see Steve sitting in physics with you."

Peter laughed, "Yeah, but then he would also be in PE with me and that wouldn't have gone well for anyone."

"I still want you to be driven too and from school. Just because we've eliminated the threat at the school doesn't mean it's not still there. And, if they were willing to walk into this building it means they're getting desperate." It bothered Tony that they couldn't figure out who was behind it or what they wanted with Peter. He should have forced the impostor to stay but at the time he was more concerned about Peter and had made an error in judgement.

Peter nodded. "Pepper said she and Happy are driving me tomorrow. Something about a meeting on Long Island."

"Yes. And I have a thing in Washington but I should be back before schools out. How about I pick you up?" Tony glanced over at Peter.

Peter smiled. "Ok. Can I drive?" The thing about always having babysitters was that someone else was always driving. Once Peter had gotten comfortable with driving he realized that he really enjoyed it. He hadn't been able to drive anywhere since this whole thing started.

"Sure kid." It dawned on Tony that Peter could have asked him for anything and he would have given it to him. He was pretty sure that was not something he needed to get in the habit of doing but right now, he was ok with it.

* * *

"You got everything, right?" Pepper smiled at Peter who was sitting next to her in the back of the town car. They had just crossed the bridge and were about ten minutes away from Peter's school.

"Yes, ma'am." Peter glanced down at Pepper's stomach. "Is that Morgan's foot?" There was a district raised area that kept moving.

Pepper laughed. "Yes." She took Peter's hand and placed on her stomach where Morgan's foot was pushing out. "Morgan, say good morning to your big brother."

Peter smiled as the area moved beneath his hand. He had a sister on the way. Before, he had a natural protectiveness of Morgan. If he were honest, he had always thought of her as his little sister but to hear Pepper say it gave him a warm feeling that he couldn't have put into words if he tried. He was content to feel the little foot moving under his hand until his spidey sense went from zero to 100. Spinning his head around he looked out the front windshield to see something fall in front of the car. Peter couldn't have told you the sequence of events that happened next. All he knew was that there was a loud explosion and when he looked down he was looking into Pepper's eyes. He glanced over his shoulder and saw smoke and the front of the car was destroyed. He could see Happy, but Happy didn't seem like he was moving at first. Then he saw a small amount of movement as Happy moved his head. He looked back down at Pepper.

"I'm fine." Pepper had her own panic button on her watch and had triggered it.

Peter moved from where he has shielded Pepper from the blast and turned back to the front. Kicking his door open he got out and pulled open Happy's door to check on him. Happy was conscious enough to have pulled his gun from his holster but that was about it. Peter turned back to the scene in front of him. The smoke was clearing and he heard the same cackle he had in the alley with Sam. A figure descended from above. It was green and it had pointy ears and it was on some kind of hovering vehicle, just big enough to carry the creature. Peter raised both hands and triggered webs aimed at the creature just to have the webs fail to stick, which had never happened before. He tried again with the same result. It was almost like the webs were dissolving on contact. Peter glanced down and saw Happy's gun in his hand. Grabbing it, he unloaded the clip into the floating device, destroying the engines which sent it crashing to the ground. The creature recovered quickly. Peter tried the webs again just to have them slide off of the creature's skin and clothing. Just as he was about to launch himself at it, it scampered down the street and into an alleyway.

* * *

Tony threw open the doors to the medical wing of the tower. The first thing he saw was Peter sitting in a chair with his head in his hands. He was vaguely aware that the rest of the team was in the hall as well. FRIDAY had downloaded Pepper and Happy's condition to him on his agonizingly slow flight back to New York. He had debated using the armor but the jet was slightly faster. It just meant that Tony was left with nothing to do but worry the entire time he was in the air. He knew Pepper and Morgan were fine and that Happy would be ok. He crouched in front of Peter. "Pete, look at me. Are you ok."

Peter finally raised his head and looked at Tony. He had been oscillating between anger and guilt, never quite landing fully on one. Seeing Tony in front of him, he completely broke down. "I tried..."

Tony pulled him into a hug. "Pete, they're going to be fine. Pepper and Morgan have already been checked out. Both are perfectly healthy thanks to you. Happy will be ok."

"They could have died because of me." Peter choked out, his arms tightening around Tony.

"Peter, you're not responsible for any of this." Tony knew what Peter had done. He had talked to Pepper during his flight back and knew that Peter had shielded her from the blast. With his arms securely around his son, he could feel the burn holes in Peter's shirt. He knew what could have happened. He had also talked to Natasha. The team had gotten there extraordinarily fast after Pepper had hit the panic button. He knew Peter had taken Happy's gun and shot at the attacker until he had taken it down. Natasha had been impressed with Peter's accuracy. They all knew he would never have aimed at a person so the fact that all of the shots were clustered around the engine had astonished Natasha. But not Tony. He played golf with his kid on a regular basis and had seen him repeatedly land a golf ball perfectly.

"Come on, let's go see Pepper." Tony leaned back a little expecting Peter to release him so they could get up and walk into Pepper's room. Instead he could feel Peter shake his head and heard the whispered "I can't."

"Pete. Come on, Pepper said you hadn't been in to see her." Tony frowned as Peter released him and sat back. He looked into Peter's eyes and saw the mixture of fear, anger, and guilt. Before he could do anything else, Peter slid out of the chair and bolted down the hall. Tony dipped his head then looked over at Natasha, who nodded and walked down the hall after Peter. He knew she'd be able to keep an eye on him and still give him space. Pushing himself up he stood and walked into Pepper's room.

* * *

Tony walked into the lab. Peter had settled into a routine. School, lab, dinner, lab, sleep, lab, school, repeat. It wasn't healthy. When May, Pepper, and Happy had left for the compound he had barely acknowledged it. Vision and Wanda we're staying at the compound to ensure their safety. Tony didn't think they would be attacked but at this point he wasn't sure of anything. He felt good leaving their safety in Wanda's hands. She had been spending time with their mutant friend and had not only gotten better control over her powers but they had grown as well.

Peter's safety was another matter entirely. The school was still clear and not triggering Peter's spidey sense so it was really just traveling to and from school that was the problem. Tony had considered pulling him out but Peter was so edgy he needed an outlet. Right now, school was it. Tony surveyed the scene in front of him. Parts and pieces were everywhere. "Are you building drones?"

Peter had barely acknowledged Tony's entrance into the lab much less the question. He glanced up when Tony leaned over the lab table to look at what Peter was doing. Which was building drones. Five of them to be exact but it looked like way more based on the pieces on the table.

"Peter, come on kid. I need you to talk to me."

Peter put the tiny screwdriver down and looked up at Tony. "Talk to you about how someone has basically forced me to stay in hiding for the past month? Or how about how Pepper, Morgan, and Happy almost died because of me? Or maybe there's something else you want to talk about?" Peter met Tony's eyes as if to challenge him. Not getting a response, he looked back down and picked up the screwdriver and went back to work on the drone. "Just let me work through this my own way. We'll figure it out. We always do. I just can't do this. Not right now."

Tony pushed back from the table. "Pete. I get it. I just want to help." He paused and looked back at the mini drone army in various stages of completion on the table. "35 suits. I made 35 suits because I wanted to feel like I was in control. Please let me help."

Peter blinked away tears that threatened to fall. "Just let me work it out." He looked up. "Please."

Tony looked at his son and wished he didn't see so much of himself staring back. Tony's resolve broke when Peter whispered the second "Please". He nodded and turned to leave the lab. Pausing at the door he looked back at Peter who already had his head back down.

Peter dropped the screwdriver when the door slid closed. Crossing his arms on the table he put his head down. "I'm sorry Dad." Peter wanted nothing more than to talk the whole thing out with him, but he knew he'd never be allowed to do what he was planning and it was the only option he saw. Raising his head back up he brushed away the tears. He still had a lot to do if he wanted to put his plan in motion tonight.


	66. Chapter 66 - He's In Trouble Isn't He

Tony walked down the hall towards Peter's room. If he didn't get moving, he was going to be late. Tony had been driving him to and from school ever since the attack. He knocked on the door and not receiving a reply he pushed it open. Seeing an empty bed he frowned. "FRIDAY, where's Peter?"

"Peter's tracking device shows that he is on the way to school."

Tony pushed away the worry that was weighing on him. He shouldn't be surprised that Peter was pushing back. The last couple weeks had not been good but had deteriorated rapidly after the attack. "Vitals?"

"All within normal ranges."

"Tell me when he gets to school." Tony glanced at Peter's empty bed before shutting the door. He pulled out his phone and texted Peter.

_"Let me know when you get to school."_

He wasn't sure if truly expected a response. Peter had barely talked to him in the last couple days. He probably should have let Bucky take him to school but he was scared that there would be another attack and he wanted to be there with him if something happened. When he didn't get an immediate response he slid his phone back in his pocket and went to find Natasha. It was time to change tactics and bring this to an end.

* * *

Steve and Natasha were sitting with Tony in the scaled down command center they had built at the tower. Tony was right, it was time to change tactics, they just weren't making much progress. Natasha had been working various angles for weeks trying to trace what was going on back to someone...anyone, and hadn't been successful. They had tapped into SHIELD to try to get additional information but hadn't had any luck there either. This needed to get resolved before Peter and Tony both lost it. Natasha was a little concerned that Peter was already there. She knew he wasn't responding to Tony's texts so she had tried herself. No response. "Tony, text Ned. See if he can get him to text us back.

Tony nodded and pulled up a new text message to Ned.

_"Can you please tell Peter to text me back."_

The reply from Ned came back almost instantly.

_"Peter's not here. He texted last night and said he wasn't feeling good."_

Tony read the message and his stomach dropped. Another message from Ned popped up.

_"How do you not know this? Doesn't Peter have his tracker on?"_

Before Tony could even register what Ned was saying, a picture came through. A picture of one of the mini spider drones sitting in Peter's seat in Physics. The picture was followed by another message.

_"He's in trouble isn't he."_

Tony felt like he couldn't breath. "FRIDAY, video playback of Peter's movements over the last 24 hours."

Natasha and Steve froze and looked at Tony. FRIDAY put various video up on the holoscreens.

"One saved video message."

"FRIDAY, play video." Panic was sweeping through Tony. He already knew what Peter had done. The first thing Tony saw was the mop of brown curls. Peter raised his head to look at the camera. He was in the lab leaning against the work table.

"Hey Dad." Peter paused and smiled. "That's going to take some getting used to. We'll have to work on it." The smile faded as he continued. "This needs to end. We can't continue to live like this and I'm not putting anyone else in harms way. If something had happened to Pepper and Morgan...". Peter stopped again. Tony recognized the look on Peter's face. Fear mixed with determination and a touch of anger. "Anyway, I think you know what I'm planning. But I'm not stupid. I worked on the radiation amplifier. FRIDAY ran tests and it working the way we wanted it to. You should be able to track me even if I'm somewhere that's shielded. I had FRIDAY delay giving you the recording long enough that I should have time to convincingly get grabbed - even if you figure it out before I want you to, which you probably will. So...come get me." Peter paused, when he spoke again there was a catch in his voice. "Dad, I love you." Peter reached up and switched off the recording and screen turned black.

Tony felt movement behind him. He heard Steve speak softly. "Get the team ready, we leave in 5." He felt Steve squeeze his shoulder. "Let's go get him." Losing Peter was not an option. Tony tapped the nanohousing and the suit formed around him, providing a shield between him and the world around him. He didn't think his facade would hold without the mask in place. "FRIDAY, find him."


	67. Chapter 67 - I Made You

Peter jerked awake. He glanced around, trying to take in as much as he could. He was in a lab. At least that's what it looked like, but not like the warm and welcoming lab at home. He was definitely strapped to a table. He pulled his arm up to test whatever was holding him down. It felt like metal...and it felt reinforced. He could break most materials. This one seemed different. No give at all. He gave up on the strap holding his upper body and started testing his legs. Pain shot through his left leg. The memory of how he had been taken down flooded back. He glanced down to see a piece of wood still sticking out of his thigh. Crap. That was going to hurt when it came out. He could feel the skin and muscle trying to heal around it and attempting to push it out. He knew his knee had to be hurt as well. It felt tight which meant it was probably swollen. He remembered landing hard. He lifted his head up as much as he could and tried to look around the room. He could see various machines and computers. Typical lab stuff. A tray of surgical tools and vials of blood. Not typical lab stuff, at least not his type of lab. He heard a door open behind him. Craning his neck he tried to see who, or what, was coming in. After the fight last night he wasn't sure of anything anymore. The figure walking towards him was human. And he recognized him.

"Ah, Mr. Parker, you're awake." Norman Osborn walked down the short flight of steps into the lab.

Peter fought to keep the surprise and confusion off his face. Norman Osborn was so far down the list of who he would have guessed, especially after battling a very non-human creature last night. The creature he had seen twice before. The one with the eerie cackle. "Why am I here."

Osborn crossed the room and checked the computer screen. "You're here because I want to know how you do the things you do."

Peter almost instinctively replied 'I don't know what you're taking about' which would have been ridiculous considering he was still wearing a Spider-Man suit. It was a new one, one he had just made that didn't have the bells and whistles and didn't have Karen. Between his Spidey sense and his other suits it would have been incredibly hard to actually get captured. He had so many protocols built in to protect him, creating a new suit had been vital to his plan. Instead he remained silent.

"Not up for talking, huh. That's ok. I prefer to get my information from scientific data anyway. I've already analyzed your blood and your DNA to figure out which of my little science experiments were able to turn you into the creation you are." He walked over to Peter and looked down at him. "What I find so interesting is that I've tried that same variant on other test subjects without the same result."

Peter couldn't help himself. "Maybe it's your test subjects."

"I believe you're on to something there. Just like Rogers was a less than healthy specimen before his transformation, you too were not the picture of health before my spider bit you. In both of your cases I think your less than healthy immune system was the key to your transformation." Osborn moved a tray closer to him. "It'll make recruiting new test subjects that much easier."

"Why are you doing this? I mean, isn't trying to create super soldiers kinda past it's prime?" From the angle Peter had, he couldn't tell what was on the tray.

"My dear boy, creating a viable super soldier will never be past its prime. There are countries willing to pay millions for just one or two soldiers. And then there's what certain parts within our own country is willing to do to control the super soldier formula." Osborn leaned over Peter. "You are worth millions. Maybe even billions." Osborn picked up a scalpel. "I am curious, how did you know you were in danger. I could not get close to you no matter what I did. That's why I had to resort to masquerading as Richard Parker. But that backfired as well." He held the scalpel where Peter could see it. "How did you know?"

Peter swallowed. Osborn didn't know about his spidey sense. There was no point in giving him that information. "Ouija board."

Osborn pursed his lips. "You've been around Stark too long. You've picked up some of his habits." He pressed the scalpel into Peter's arm, cutting straight through the material of the suit and into the flesh below.

Peter bit back a surprised cry of pain. In all honesty, he had felt worse.

"Your tolerance for pain is outstanding. I can't tell if it's a by product of the spider bite or if you're just naturally tough." He sliced into Peter's arm again, watching Peter bite his lip to avoid crying out.

"Isn't this the part where you tell me you'll stop trying to hurt me if I help you?" Peter bit his lip again to fight off the stinging in his arm.

"Oh, no. Like I said, I prefer the scientific approach. This is all about building a database of information for my benefactors. I want to see how long you take to heal." He glanced down at Peter's leg. "I'm also curious if your body will heal around the piece of wood in your leg or push it out. I can't wait to find out what it does." He was almost excited at the prospect. He picked up a tablet and started making notes.

Peter stared up at the ceiling. He was regretting his plan. He really didn't think he was going to end up being a science experiment. He wished he knew how long he had been unconscious but there was nothing that even hinted at what time it was. Peter decided he might as well see what information he could get out of Osborn. "Who's the green guy, with the pointy ears."

Osborn looked up from his clipboard and smiled. "You mean this guy?"

Osborn morphed in front of Peter's eyes into the creature he had battled last night. "What the hell? What did you do?"

Osborn morphed back into his human self. "I stumbled upon these absolutely fascinating creatures a little over a year ago. Truly remarkable to study. Still don't know what they were doing on earth but they were obviously alien in origin. I had three of them. I eventually was able to get a serum that would allow me to morph at will. Interesting effect...I'm stronger as the, as you called it, green guy with the pointy ears. The strength unfortunately doesn't transfer into my original form. The serum allowed us to follow you without creating a recognizable pattern or tipping anyone off." Osborn fiddled with some equipment to the side of Peter. "My morphing serum managed to satisfy my benefactor for the short term while I continued to try to deliver the super soldiers he wants." He looked back down at Peter. "Which bring us back to you. I can create the serum from your blood, I just need to know what your limits are so I can set the proper expectations with my benefactor."

Peter didn't know what he was expecting but excruciating pain wasn't it. He screamed as his body convulsed. The few thoughts he could put together were that Osborn was hitting him with electricity and it hurt. A lot.

"Interesting. You do not tolerate electricity at all." Osborn stopped to write on his tablet again. "I'll have to see if I can fix that in future creations. Can't have a million dollar asset taken down by a simple bolt of electricity." He paused thinking through the problem. "Of course we could just make sure their uniforms had a dampener in it."

Peter closed his eyes. "Stop calling me a creation. I'm not your creation."

Osborn twisted the knob again, increasing the voltage. "Of course you are my dear boy. I made you."

Peter felt electricity coursing through his body again. He screamed until he couldn't scream anymore and slipped into unconsciousness.


	68. Chapter 68 - Rescue

Peter dreamed of the familiar whirl of a repulsor charging. It was a comforting sound. It was a sound he would always associate with Tony. He tried to blink away the fog in his brain because the repulsor sound was partnered with a lot of other sounds he usually masked with music. He groaned as he opened his eyes just to close them again because there was a lot of dust. And a hole in the wall that hadn't been there before. His first thought was 'Thank God. They're here'. His second thought was to wonder just how pissed off Tony was going to be. His third thought was that it didn't matter because Tony was his dad and his dad had come to get him. He knew the thought sounded vaguely childish, he just didn't care at the moment. He tried to open his eyes to see what was going on and saw that Osborn had transformed into the green guy with pointy ears and had been joined by security that was currently battling the team. He could see a hint of red and gold by the breach in the door.

He had kept the nanotech bracelet on. He had never had so much of a problem forming a web shooter but he finally felt it form around his wrist. He didn't have a whole lot of mobility but he had enough to be able to fire a couple webs, slowing down a couple of Osborn's men. He felt the web-shooter collapse back into the bracelet and frowned when he couldn't form it again. He soon felt metal hands on both sides working the straps holding him down. He blinked his eyes open and saw not only Iron Man but Bucky as well. They were both breaking the metal straps until he could move again. He struggled to sit up.

"Easy Pete." Tony slid his armored arm under Peter's to maneuver him off the table. FRIDAY was already evaluating Peter's vitals.

"Boss, Peter's heartbeat is erratic. I suggest we get him to the Quinjet immediately."

Tony looked over at Bucky who was supporting Peter's other side. "We need to get him out of here." Both of them were ignoring the firefight going on around them. Not only did Osborn have security with him in the lab but they were converging on the lab from other areas of the building. Tony slapped a modified version of nanohousing on Peter's chest and watched the Iron Spider form around him. The last thing they needed was for Peter to get hit by a bullet on the way out. Nodding at Bucky they lifted Peter off the table. Tony could hear a groan coming from Peter as he tried to put weight on his leg. "Pete, let us do the work. Just relax." He felt Peter relax a little so Bucky and Tony lifted him off his feet and started moving.

Peter knew they were moving but he wasn't doing anything to help. He wasn't sure if his eyes were closed or if the Iron Spider's eyes were closed. He heard both an automatic weapon and repulsors firing on either side of him but stopped worrying about it. He just wanted to stay conscious. He wasn't sure if he was accomplishing that or not.

When he tried opening his eyes again, the Iron Spider suit had retreated back into its nanohousing. He tried to glance around. He didn't think he was still in Osborn's lab but he was laying down. He didn't want to be laying down. It reminded him of Osborn. He struggled to sit up and immediately felt a metal hand on his chest.

"Tony...". Bucky called towards the front of the Quinjet.

Tony turned away from the cockpit and crossed the short distance to where Peter was struggling against Bucky to sit up. He lowered himself into a chair next to Peter. "Hey." He smiled down at the face that relaxed as soon they locked eyes. "Let Bucky stabilize your leg. You knee and thigh are a mess."

"Dad...". Peter collapsed back onto the cot, relief in his voice. He closed his eyes against a wave of dizziness. "I feel like crap."

Tony reached up and grabbed an oxygen mask and fastened it over Peter's face. "That would be because your heart rate is all over the place. I need you to relax. Just breathe."

Peter nodded and forced his eyes open again and looked up. He could see the machine showing his heartbeat. "Electricity"

Tony looked down at Peter. "I know." He had seen the burn marks. He reached down and put his hand on Peter's chest. He smiled when Peter reached up and grabbed his hand. He forced himself to focus on the machines monitoring Peter's heart. He couldn't let himself savor the fact that Peter had called him 'Dad'. Or even the fact that he had him back. He could feel the Quinjet descending to the roof of the tower. Helen was already there. He had called her when they were leaving. The only thing he could focus on was making sure Peter was going to be ok.

The ramp lowered as soon as the wheels touched down. Dr. Cho and her team boarded and started preparing Peter for transport to the medical wing. Bucky moved out of the way. Tony did not. He found himself not wanting to let go of Peter's hand. Dr. Cho sighed to herself and just worked around him.

* * *

Tony settled in the chair next to Peter's bed. IV cocktail in place, Dr. Cho had opted to sedate Peter to let his body start making repairs. The heart monitor had stopped its erratic beeps a little while ago and with the exception of a blip here and there it seemed like Peter's heart was back in rhythm. Tony's gut had been right when he had been so concerned about Peter's exposure to electricity. He thought the suits had strong enough dampeners in them but he wasn't sure. As much as it turned his stomach to think about it, he needed to know how much of a current Peter had been hit with. He heard a soft tap at the door and looked over to see Steve walk in.

Not wanting to intrude, Steve stopped at the door. He walked over to Peter's bed when Tony motioned with his head for him to come in. "How is he?"

"Sedated. His heartbeat is somewhat back in synch. He'll have to wear a knee brace for a couple days but should be fine." Tony leaned forward and fiddled with one of the monitor wires moving it away from Peter's arm. "Everyone ok?" Tony had been next to Peter since finding him. He wasn't even sure how long the team had been back. Steve was in jeans and a t-shirt so he had at least been back long enough to change.

Steve nodded. "Natasha is going through all of the intel we grabbed. We didn't want to risk SHIELD or anyone else getting it. Once we loaded everything, we torched the inside." Steve watched Tony nod his head in approval and then look down at the floor. "How are you?"

Tony forced a smile and looked over at Steve. "My son used himself as bait and is in a hospital bed." He leaned back in the chair. "I've been better."

Steve smiled. "He'll recover. Are you going to ground him?"

Tony chuckled. "According to Rhodey I've never been good at that. He's not sure I understand the intent or the definition."

"You've never been able to tell him no. I don't see that changing anytime soon." Steve looked at Tony. He still didn't know all of the details but it didn't matter. Fatherhood suited Tony. He paused because he realized they were in new territory. Generally, all intel was shared across the team. It was a rule they had broken once with disastrous consequences. But this was different. There were some things you couldn't forget no matter how hard you tried. Steve wondered if this was one thing that Tony would be better off not knowing. But it wasn't his call to make. "Tony, how much do you want to know...about what happened?"

Tony looked back at Peter. He didn't know how to answer Steve. The only thing he truly cared about right now was making sure Peter was ok. There were things he needed to know in order to make sure Peter was protected in the future, but the rest of it? "I'll let you know after I talk to Pete."

Steve nodded. For now it would all stay with himself and Natasha.

* * *

Steve walked into the command center and looked at the lone figure at the table. Natasha had boxes stacked on the table in front of her and was flipping through a tablet. "How's it coming."

Natasha glanced up and frowned. "The more I dig into this the less I like it. How's Peter?" She hadn't ventured into the medical wing yet. She thought she could do him more good here than keeping Tony company.

"Sedated. Tony said he thought his heart was more or less back in rhythm." Steve lowered himself into the chair next to Natasha and pulled a box towards him.

Natasha put the tablet down and leaned back in her chair. "What does Tony know?"

Steve shook his head. "Nothing. He wants to talk to Peter first."

"There's some of this that we're going to need Peter's help with and Tony isn't going to like it."

Steve frowned. When they had talked about it before the plan was to leave Peter out of any of the intel discussion. For Natasha to want to bring him into it meant it wasn't good. "What did you find?"

"He sequenced Peter's DNA. I don't think he sent it out though. But that's where my problem is. Osborn was working for someone. Someone who already has his morphing technology and someone who had him under tremendous pressure to deliver super soldiers." Natasha looked over at Steve. There was a very short list of people who would have the backing necessary for this.

"Ok. There's nothing we can do until he wakes up anyway so keep digging. Maybe you'll find something that will allow us to keep him out of this. How much more do you have to go through?"

Natasha looked around at the boxes on the table. "It's going to take me a couple days." She picked the tablet back up. "I did find our Skrull friends though. The ones we lost track of after Peter and Tony fought them and the Kree."

Steve frowned as Natasha slid the tablet over to him. The pictures were almost enough to turn Steve's stomach. He almost hated to ask the next question. "Have you been able to tell what he did to Peter?"

Natasha tapped a box next to her. "He was meticulous in his note taking. There's also video. I haven't watched it yet but the notes are more than enough. If he weren't already dead, he would be. I'm just glad Peter wasn't there that long. I think Osborn probably brought him in around 3:30 am. We got there around 9:30. Six hours. Thankfully, I think Peter was unconscious for most of it."

Steve scrubbed a hand over his face. "I hope Tony decides he never needs to know and we can just burn all of this."


	69. Chapter 69 - I'm Just Glad Your're Here

Peter groggily tried to roll over only to end up in a tangle of wires.

"Easy. Dr. Cho is going to pitch a fit if you pull some of this off." Tony gently pressed Peter's shoulder back so he was on his back again. When Peter started to struggle against him, he leaned over and focused on Peter's face. "It's me." When the brown doe eyes finally focused and opened, he smiled. "Hey."

Peter smiled as he relaxed and nestled back. He was safe. "Hey."

"How are you feeling?" Tony scrutinized Peter's face.

"Better than I did before." Peter glanced down and could see a brace on his leg and frowned.

"It's only for a couple days." Tony crossed his arms and rested them on the bed rails. He watched Peter try to adjust the wires to get them out of the way only to pull out two of them. Shaking his head, he reached over and pushed the call button.

Dr. Cho must have realized Peter was awake because she was joined by two nurses who proceeded to unhook Peter from most of the wires. "Peter, I want you to try something." She handed him a ball. "See if you can stick to it and release."

Peter frowned and took the ball from her. Setting it in his palm, he flipped his hand over and watched the ball tumble to the bed. He looked over at Tony in panic. "Why aren't I sticky?"

Tony looked over at Dr. Cho. "You think the current disrupted everything?"

Helen nodded. "Can you form the nanotech web-shooter?"

Peter was in full panic mode. He stared at his wrist trying to make the web shooters form with no luck. He felt Tony's hand on his shoulder and looked over.

"I think it's temporary." Tony gave Peter a reassuring smile. "You took a pretty big hit of current. Your heart is still blipping out of sync every once in a while. Just give it a couple days."

Peter frowned and picked up the ball again. He looked over at his left leg. "What about my knee?"

"It's only for a couple days too. The injury to your thigh has already healed. The ligaments in your knee were all torn. They're healing, we just want to make sure they're fully healed before we let you have free range of motion." Helen glanced over at Tony. "I want to keep him down here tonight to make sure he doesn't have any heart related issues. If he has a good night he can go back upstairs in the morning."

Peter settled back onto the bed after Dr. Cho left, still focused on the ball and trying to make it stick until Tony reached over and took it out of his hand. "Stop. There's no point in worrying about it yet." He looked at Peter's face and could see panic just under the surface. "All you're going to do is set yourself up for a repeat of what happened before."

"What if it doesn't come back?" Peter couldn't keep the panic out of his voice.

"I think it will, but if it doesn't then we'll fix it...together." Tony emphasized the last word and sat back in the chair, setting the ball on the table.

Peter frowned and stared at his lap. He hadn't counted on losing part of himself. If he wasn't sticky and if he couldn't control the nanotechnology, could he even be Spider-Man? What is the rest of it was gone too?

Tony looked at his kid and knew he needed to come up with a distraction. Peter was starting to spiral into the black hole of anxiety. While he was waiting for Peter to wake up he had a whole speech planned out in his head. All about how Peter shouldn't have gone off on his own, about how scared he had been, about how he was worried he wouldn't see him again. In his head it had been a great father speech, capped off by telling him how much he loved him. The whole speech that was now being dumped into the recycle bin in Tony's brain because the last thing Peter needed right now was any kind of reprimand. Instead, he decided to focus on what the two of them did best. Tech talk and burying everything until later. "Ok, I understand the drones. I think. You used them to fake your tracking signal, right?"

Peter looked over at him with a look of disbelief. He had been expecting a lecture, on the scale of the one he had gotten after the ferry incident. Instead, he was being quizzed about his plan. "Uh, yes sir. I had one that was in my room, one that covered the distance to the subway, one on the subway, and one at school. The fifth one was the backup in case there was a problem with any of the others."

Tony nodded, it really had been a good plan. "I also get the new suit. It would have been hard to have been captured with any of the others ones."

Peter nodded, "It was hard enough with my spidey sense going off. Sometimes I move out of the way of something completely subconsciously. Add Karen and the protocols and it would have been impossible." Maybe he was being lulled into a false sense of security before being grounded for life.

"Here's what I don't get. How in the hell did you trick FRIDAY? She's programmed to let me - and I think even Natasha at this point - know if you leave the building." Tony leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He honestly had not been able to figure it out. He had checked FRIDAY'S programming while he was waiting on Peter to wake up. It hadn't been tampered with.

Peter smiled. "Those protocols weren't in place until this whole thing started. All I did was change the system date to a date prior to this starting and then had it revert back at 7am this morning." He looked over at Tony. "I'm sorry, I know you don't like anyone to mess with FRIDAY. I just couldn't get out of the building otherwise."

Tony frowned. That was entirely too simple. Genius, but simple. He'd have to put something in to prevent anyone from changing the system date. He couldn't believe he had missed something like that. He also was used to FRIDAY just being there for his use and to protect Pepper. It's not like the idea of tampering with FRIDAY would have even occurred to Pepper. Peter had been included in FRIDAY's protocols for a while, he had just never taken into consideration what that actually meant. He looked up at Peter and smiled. "It was a good plan. Just don't do it again."

Peter nodded and looked down at his lap. "You know, I wanted to talk to you, I just knew you wouldn't let me do it if you knew what I was planning."

Tony sat back in his chair. Hell no he wouldn't have let him do it. "I get why you did it." He was trying to figure out how to be a supportive dad and realized he didn't know what that was. The only thing he kept thinking was 'just do the opposite of what Howard would have done'.

"You do?" Peter looked over in surprise.

"I do. I just wish you hadn't had to do it." Tony scrubbed his hand over his face.

"So you're not mad?" Peter asked hopefully.

Tony chuckled. "I'm not sure mad is the word. I'm just glad you're...here." Tony smiled at his son who was grinning at him.


	70. Chapter 70 - Nightmare

Tony shifted in the chair next to Peter's bed. It didn't matter how comfortable of a chair he thought he had, it usually got really uncomfortable after spending a day or two in it. He opened his eyes and glanced at the clock. 2:30 am. Wonderful he thought sarcastically. He glanced over at Peter who was moving just enough that it had caught Tony's eye. He had woken the kid up from nightmares enough over the last couple years that he recognized the beginnings of one. Leaning over he put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Pete, wake up."

It took a couple seconds but Peter's eyes snapped open. His eyes darted around until they landed on Tony. "Dad...". Peter exhaled as he tried to push himself up into a sitting position.

Tony smiled as he helped Peter adjust the bed. "Ok...just so you know, we're not going to spend a year getting used to calling me Dad and only do it when you have a nightmare."

Peter laughed, "Ok, Dad."

Tony thought it had a bit of a sarcastic tone to it but he'd take it. "So was it the fight or what happened after Osborn had you." Over the last couple years, Tony had gotten somewhat proficient in dealing with Peter's nightmares. He had realized at some point that Peter would never volunteer details but would answer questions honestly...so that's what they did.

Peter pushed a pillow behind him. "A little of both I think. That thing he morphed into was bad enough in real life...". Peter looked away from Tony. This is what they did after nightmares and it did wonders for him. He didn't face weeks of dealing with them. They could generally talk them out. But it was never easy.

"Ok. You know he can't hurt you, right?" They generally didn't talk about the status of the "bad guys". Peter wasn't naive, he knew there were casualties. They just didn't talk about it. Tony wondered if they needed to now.

"I know. There was no way he was walking out of there." Peter turned back and looked at his dad and gave him a reassuring smile. "I know."

"Ok, so after he got you, what do you remember?" Tony settled back in the chair.

"After I fell, I didn't stay conscious long. When I woke up I was already in the lab. I think I had been out for a while because he had already figured out which version of the formula caused...". Peter frowned.

"Pete?"

"He kept calling me his creation." He looked over at Tony, "He said he made me."

"Kid...no one made you and you aren't anyone's creation. I may have contributed DNA to you and Osborn may have developed the serum that gave you your abilities but no one made you. You made yourself. You decided who you wanted to be long before you were Spider-Man." Tony leaned forward and locked eyes with Peter. "When you were bitten you had a lot of different paths you could have taken. You chose to help others, not yourself...because that's who you had already decided to be."

"Dad, what if there's something in the serum that makes me...not me? The whole idea of having a Super Soldier is based on being able to control them. Osborn didn't do all of this because he was curious, he was doing it because someone had hired him to do it. Doesn't that mean that you have to have a built in way to control them?" Peter had been rolling the idea around in his head since Osborn had said he was trying to create super soldiers for someone else.

Tony pondered the idea. There was some logic to what Peter was saying. "Natasha is digging through everything they recovered. If you and I need to become experts in genetics so we truly understand all of the mutations in your DNA, we can do that. But I don't think DNA can control your actions." Tony smiled. "The entire Winter Soldier program was developed so they could control them...do exactly what you're talking about. It wasn't done via the DNA, it was done by messing with their brains."

"But what if Osborns' serum was trying to overcome that?"

Tony sighed. He was already accepting the fact that he and Peter were going to become experts in genetics. "Look at it this way. You share my DNA, right?" He waited for Peter to nod his head. "And that explains a lot of our similarities. The fact that we can both control the nanotech but Rhodey can't. The way we both tend to overthink things."

Peter laughed. "Pepper calls it 'crippling anxiety'"

Tony frowned. "When did you and Pepper have a conversation about 'crippling anxiety'?" She wasn't wrong, he just wasn't aware she and Peter talked about it.

"Remember when MJ and I first started dating and you said you weren't ready for 'Spider Babies'? Pepper and I both woke up with a nightmare...about spider babies. When I started freaking out about the mutation she said my 'Tony' was showing. That you think things five steps out which makes you the genius you are but can also give you crippling anxiety."

"She's not wrong. And, yes, you and I think alike. Our brains are probably wired the same. And, if we really want to delve into genetics, we both get it from my father, your grandfather. While we might share some tendencies we're also so different. Dad didn't seem to have the same anxiety issues. He was also a pretty horrible person most of the time. According to my therapist, a lot of my anxiety issues go back to my relationship with my father or I guess you could say the non existent relationship I had with my father. I think a lot of yours are because you had to deal with so much at such a young age. The DNA doesn't determine the outcome. You do." It never failed to amaze Tony how easy it was to talk about this stuff with Peter. He hated to talk about his father. When he did it was generally as an excuse or to make a point. Right now, it had nothing to do with making a point, but more about just talking with his kid. He didn't understand why Howard never wanted this. He wouldn't miss this for anything.

"So you don't think I'm going to turn into some kind of crazy monster?" Peter was only halfway joking.

"You are not going to turn into a crazy monster. Are you going to go back to sleep?" Tony settled back in his chair.

"Maybe." Peter stifled a yawn and slid further down in bed. "Still think I'll get my stickiness back?"

"Yes, Spiderling. Go to sleep."

* * *

Natasha heard the clomping of crutches before she heard the unceasing complaining. She looked up from the tablet and saw Tony stop at the door and turn to watch until an incredibly grumpy Peter came into sight. She had to fight back a snicker at the look on both of their faces. Peter's face showed his absolute hatred of the crutches and Tony's showed pure exasperation at the teen. "Peter. Glad you're up and about."

He growled a little bit as he lowered himself in a chair. "Hey, Nat. I hate crutches."

Natasha looked over at Tony who leaned against the door frame. "He tried to convince me to let him just walk on his hands."

"It would have been fine." Peter grumbled from his chair.

Ignoring Peter, Tony looked at Natasha. "Steve said you weren't having much luck figuring out who Osborn was working for. Peter mentioned something about it last night. After some discussion this morning, he wants to see if he can help fill in some blanks."

Natasha understood Tony's message behind the statement. Peter had convinced him to let him do it and Tony still wasn't on board. "Peter, are you sure?"

Peter shrugged, "I don't know how much help I'll be. I was only conscious for a short time. But Osborn did say a couple things while I was awake that you may be able to use."

Natasha nodded and leaned forward picking up a pen and moving a notepad towards her. She smiled a Peter. "Ok. Tell me what he said."

"He was working for someone he kept calling his 'benefactor'. I think he was getting a lot of pressure to deliver a super soldier serum which is why he was so aggressive in trying to get me out in the open."

"Have you come across anything that points to how he knew who Peter was?" Tony asked from his position from the door.

"I think he just pieced it together over time. If you're motivated and have access to resources it isn't that hard to figure out." Natasha shrugged. They all knew it was a possibility despite how many precautions Tony took to hide Peter's idenity.

"I think his benefactor was someone within the US government."

Natasha and Peter stared at Peter, both frowning. Natasha glanced over at Tony. "What makes you say that Peter?"

"When he was talking about super soldiers, he was talking about how individual countries would pay millions of dollars for just one or two...then he said something like 'and then there what groups within our own government would do to control the serum." Peter shrugged. "I just got the impression that was who was pushing him for results."

Tony and Natasha glanced at each other. There were a few factions within the government that continued to push for a Super Soldier program. They all had one common denominator...Ross. Natasha looked back at Peter. "That's helpful Peter. It'll help focus what we're looking for."

"Come on Underoos. Let's leave Natasha to her boxes." Tony pulled himself away from the door frame and waited for Peter to maneuver out of the chair. For someone who was always so naturally agile, the crutches made Peter incredibly clumsy. It would have been comical if he didn't know how frustrated Peter was getting with trying to use them.


	71. Chapter 71 - Changes

As soon as Dr. Cho unfastened his knee brace, Peter flexed his knee and looked between Tony and Dr. Cho. "Am I cleared?"

"Yes." Dr. Cho slid back, knowing what was coming next.

Peter jumped off the table. "Dad, I'm going to the gym to swing!"

Tony watched Peter dart out the door. Sometimes he acted mature beyond his age...other times...not so much.

"How's the rest of it?" Dr. Cho looked over at Tony who was watching Peter disappear down the hallway.

"Stickiness is coming back. His control is sporadic but it's getting better." Tony pushed off from the counter he was leaning against. "I'm going to go make sure he doesn't kill himself. Happy, May, and Pepper are coming back tonight. I really don't want to try to explain that he's hurt because he did something stupid."

* * *

Peter bolted into the gym slapping a pair of web shooters on his wrists. Flinging both wrists he landed webs on the highest rafters in the gym and pulled himself up. When they finished out the floor that the gym was on, they ended up tearing out the ceiling in order to create the height Peter needed to swing. It still wasn't as high as the gyms at the compound but was high enough for Peter to flip around.

Natasha and Sam barely blinked when Peter flipped over where they were sparring. "Somebody got his knee brace off." Natasha paused to let Sam catch his breath. She glanced over to the door and saw Tony walking through. Before, you sometimes saw one without the other but ever since they had rescued Peter, Tony was never too far away.

Tony stopped to watch Peter flip through the air before he heading over to Sam and Natasha. "Any updates?"

Natasha shook her head. "I think we all believe Ross was the government benefactor. Proving it is another issue all together." Natasha looked up as Peter twisted midair and flung another web. "Also, Osborn's disappearance is making the news."

Tony shrugged. "It was bound to happen. He ran one of the larger tech companies in the world. He's always been a little eccentric but disappearing for more than a week was bound to be noticed. Any chance it gets traced back to us?"

Natasha shook her head. "We were careful when we went in. His facility wasn't registered to OsCorp so it was definitely off the books. I doubt any of his research with the Skrulls or the Super Soldier Serum has any ties to the company."

Sam leaned against a column, "How does that work? How could he keep all of that out of his company."

Tony smiled, "Good lawyers that know what they're doing. All of the Avenger stuff is completely outside of SI. And, any technological advances that are developed from tech recovered from any Avenger op has to go through a defense committee before we can patent it through SI. When you have government contracts you almost have to have entire RD divisions outside of the company. Otherwise there's too much oversight."

"And, that is why I have zero desire to be in the business world." Sam picked up his water bottle from the floor. "Thanks for the sparring practice Nat." He glanced up at Peter, "Tony, good luck reining that in."

Tony smiled at Sam as he walked out of the gym. "Nat, are you sure they can't trace Osborn back to us?"

"It was a clean ingress and egress and the entire inside was torched, bodies included. I know that's not our typical procedure but no one wanted any of it traced back to us." It dawned on Natasha how much her life had changed. She was explaining that hiding the bodies wasn't the norm. It had always been her norm before. Funny how things change.

Tony nodded. Neither he nor Natasha flinched when Peter landed in front of them. "How's the knee feel?"

Peter tossed sweaty curls out of his face. "Knee feels perfect. Stickiness is so so."

Natasha smiled, "It'll come back, just be patient." She picked up her own water bottle. "Tony, I'll let you know if I hear anything different." She waved over her head as she headed out of the gym.

"You need to shower and change. Pepper, May, and Happy will be here for dinner."

Peter nodded and slipped off his web-shooters. "How is Pepper feeling?"

Tony walked with Peter toward the elevator, "Well, she's six months pregnant and pissed off at me because I won't let her travel. Our goal tonight is to put her in a good mood."

Peter laughed, "Whatever you do, don't talk about the wedding. Last time, she was mad at you for a week."

"I am definitely not bringing up the wedding. I think that whole thing has been tabled until after Morgan gets here." Tony pushed Peter into the elevator. "Want to go up to the lake house for Fall Break in a couple weeks? It'll probably do Pepper some good."

"Can we work on the labs?" Peter pushed curls out of his face.

"Of course. Unless Pepper decides that we have to work on Morgan's room." Tony had resigned himself a couple months into Pepper pregnancy that it was way easier to just let Pepper dictate what they did. "Hey, all of your MIT stuff came in this morning. We also need to find a weekend to check out the campus. Knowing Rhodey, he'll want to go too."

Peter frowned. "I'm not even half way though my senior year. How can all of the college stuff be this close."

"It'll be here before you know it. Has Ned decided what he's doing yet?" Tony waited for Peter to exit the elevator before stepping off on their floor.

"No. He's narrowed it down between Cal Tech and MIT though." Peter's frown deepened. "And, MJ got accepted into Princeton."

"Don't stress about your group splitting up. We can fly everyone for visits. Perk of owning a couple jets. Heck, if you buckle down and finish ground school you can get your pilots license and fly yourself." Tony knew his attempt at cheering Peter up was falling on deaf ears.

Peter sighed, "I know. They've just been there the last couple years. I just feel like everything is changing. I'll be in Boston. How am I supposed to patrol Queens when I'm in a completely different state. And, it's not like I can just be your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in Boston. There can't be that many people who move from Queens to Boston. I'd lose what little cover I have." All of this had been swirling around in Peter's head since the start of the school year. Someone stalking him had actually provided a distraction from the impending changes, but not in a good way. The only change he was actually looking forward to was Morgan, and that was still three months away.

"Change isn't always a bad thing. You'll make new friends and your circle will just be larger than three." Tony knew a big part of Peter wanted to stay in New York. Peter had even brought up the idea at one point that he didn't need to go to college...which every adult in his life, Avengers included, shot down. Part of Tony felt like he was more or less right. Tony had found college just as boring as all other school. And, it wasn't like the kid had to look for a job. Peter was Tony's succession plan. He just hadn't told Peter yet. Peter was not ready to have the burden of a multi billion dollar company weighing on his shoulders...which is why Tony knew he had to go to college.

"Do you know how long it took me to have more than one friend? Fifteen years." Peter's mood had gone from ecstatic at getting the brace off to grumpy. "I'm taking a shower."

Tony watched him retreat down the hall. Pulling out his phone he sent a text. He couldn't believe he was arranging a play date for a seventeen year old but here they were.


	72. Chapter 72 - Ice

A week at the cabin was perfect. Not only did Peter and Tony finish Morgan's room, but they also made significant progress on the labs. Happy had driven May up toward the end of the week so May and Pepper could have a girls weekend which gave Tony the chance to head back early with Peter. He glanced over at his son who was currently talking a mile a minute about an upcoming academic decathlon meet. He loved listening to him ramble on, it was even better when Peter realized they had gotten off of the interstate way before their exit and he stopped midstream.

"Where are we going?" Peter looked around in confusion.

"We are killing two birds with one stone. Remember my non-SHIELD option for the people affected by the Terrigen drug Hydra created?"

Peter frowned. "Yes. How is that a bird?"

Tony laughed, "He's a world renowned geneticist. And, he knows how to keep a secret. I sent him your DNA profile to review the mutations. To make sure there isn't a Trojan horse waiting to be released."

Peter started to protest but stopped as they drove through a stately gate that acted as the entrance to the biggest house Peter had ever seen. "This place is huge."

"That's because it's a school." Tony parked in the driveway in front of the main house. "Are you coming?"

Peter looked around as he got out of the car. There were kids of various ages walking across the yard, some of them not quite human looking. He trailed just behind trying to take in everything around him. By the time he reached the front door, it had already been opened.

"Mr. Stark! It's good to see you again! I think the Professor is waiting for you in the study."

Peter smiled at the woman who greeted them and again followed in his dad's wake as he made his way to the study. He could see glimpses of kids in different rooms that he supposed were essentially classrooms. When they walked into the study, he recognized the man he had seen the day Nat had picked him up from school before their mission to London.

"Charles, I'd like you to meet my son, Peter."

Peter smiled to himself. He hadn't been introduced to anyone as Tony's son before. It left a warm feeling in his chest. Stepping forward he reached out to shake the man's hand.

"Peter, Tony has told me so much about you. I'm glad he brought you out here so I could meet you in person." He moved his chair back behind his desk and opened a file on his computer. "Tony mentioned you were worried that there was something in your mutations that would allow someone to essentially control your actions. I've cataloged all of the mutations to the chromosomes that make up your DNA and have identified each purpose. There is nothing that can affect your mind." He turned the screen around so Peter could see.

Peter walked forward and looked at the screen. "There's nothing that could be triggered like the Terrigen?"

Charles shook his head. "There's no trace of any latent segment." He smiled when Peter let out a sigh of relief. "I'll send the report to you so you'll have the information at your disposal."

"Thanks Charles." Tony didn't show the same outward expression of relief but when Peter had brought it up, the thought had kept him up at night more than once. They all turned their head when a door behind them and a boy Peter's age walked through.

"Bobby, thank you for joining us." Charles moved out from behind the desk again. Looking over at Peter, he smiled. "Your father told me you were going to MIT next year. I asked if he wouldn't mind if I introduced you to Bobby. Bobby will also be heading to MIT next year. It's hard enough to go to a new place when you don't know anyone, it's even harder when you have to hide your abilities. I have always found it to be comforting to have a confidant. It's a reminder that you're not alone."

Peter looked at Bobby. He looked like any other kid that he would see every day at school, until he turned to ice. Peter grinned, "That's awesome!" He looked over at his dad who gave him a go ahead nod. Forming both web shooters he raised his arms and shot webs at the ceiling. In a fluid motion he flipped himself up and landed on his feet upside down on the ceiling. He had regained full control over his stickiness over the last week and it made him incredibly happy that he no longer had to worry about tumbling to the ground unexpectedly.

"Holy Shit, you're Spider-Man." Seeing the look he received from Professor Xavier, Bobby quickly followed with "Sorry...But he's Spider-Man!"

Peter flipped off the ceiling and landed in front of Bobby. He extended his hand to shake Bobby's. "Peter Parker."

"Bobby, do you think you can show Peter around?"

"Sure Mr. Stark." Bobby pulled Peter toward the door. "I can't believe you're Spider-Man. I've saw you stop a mugging one time."

Peter frowned a little, "I'm just a kid that was bitten by a spider." He wondered if this is what his dad felt every time someone said 'You're Iron Man' with a star struck look on their face.

* * *

Bobby got over being star struck with Peter relatively quickly. The more they talked the more they realized they had a fair amount in common. Bobby had grown up just north of Queens and had hung out at some of the same places. Bobby showed Peter around the school he now called home.

"So everyone here has some kind of mutant ability?" Peter was standing next to Bobby on a balcony overlooking an open field where some of the students were playing a variation of kickball. A couple people were phasing in and out to avoid being hit by the ball. It was interesting to watch, although it was still a little unsettling to watch people move through solid objects.

"Yes. Some of them have had some form of their abilities since birth, others, like me, had latent mutations that appeared." Bobby looked at Peter. "So how long have you had your abilities?"

"Three years." Part of Peter couldn't believe it had only been three years. It felt like he had always been Spider-Man.

"You were 14 when you decided to become Spider-Man? That's crazy. I was playing video games all day when I was 14, not fighting crime."

Peter shrugged. "I still play video games."

Bobby laughed. "I've only had my abilities for about a year and a half. And they didn't all show up at once. It started with being cold all the time, but a comfortable cold. It was weird."

Peter thought back to a year and a half ago. The timing was right. "Were your abilities triggered by the Terrigen?"

Bobby nodded. "I was going through a rebellious streak. Went to a party where they were passing around those pills. Took a couple...wound up a mutant. I guess it's better than being dead of a drug overdose. My parents had already been talking about sending me to military school so when Professor Xavier showed up and offered this, they jumped at it." He glanced over at Peter. "They still don't know anything about my mutations. They just pretty much wrote me off." He paused, debating whether he should continue. "You're really lucky to have your dad. And not just because he's Iron Man. Every time he came out here he talked about you. Not Spider-Man, I didn't know anything about that until today. About stuff you two had done in the lab, or something you had done at school. He's really proud of you."

Peter clinched his jaw. He hadn't known much about this place until today and definitely didn't know that his dad visited on a regular basis. Hearing Bobby talk about how proud Tony was of Peter gave him that same warm feeling he had gotten when his dad had introduced him as his son. He glanced down and saw his dad and Professor Xavier walk out of the main house and look up to where he and Bobby were standing. He looked over at Bobby. "Can you make this jump?" He had no idea what the extent of Bobby's abilities were...might as well find out.

Bobby looked over the edge of the railing. "Yeah."

Peter watched him assume his ice form and vault over the side the railing. Peter smiled when he landed. Flipping over the rail he landed in a crouch next to Bobby.

"You even land in a super hero pose!" Bobby laughed as he changed back.

Peter grinned and stood up. He turned and saw Professor Xavier and his dad walking towards them.

"Ok, stop showing off. Are you ready to head home?" Tony stopped in front of Peter and Bobby.

Peter nodded. He pulled out his phone and proceeded to exchange cell numbers and PlayStation user tags with Bobby. Once done, he followed his dad back to the car.

Tony slid behind the steering wheel. He was curious to find out Peter's reaction to their visit. "So what did you think?"

"Interesting place. I don't think I realized there were that many kids with mutations. Professor Xavier seems nice." Peter stared pensively out the window. "Bobby's nice too. It'll be good to see a familiar face next fall."

Tony couldn't quite figure out what was going on in Peter's head. "Take the next couple months and get to know him. If you two think you can get along he can be your roommate. I'd feel better if you weren't by yourself and that you have a roommate won't freak out when he catches you're standing on the ceiling because you're studying for a test."

Peter smiled. He had been worried about the possibility of having to keep Spider-Man secret from a roommate. "That's a great idea. Thanks for introducing us." He went back to staring out the window.

"Ok kid, what's wrong?"

Peter looked down at his lap before turning to look at Tony. "I'm not sure I ever really appreciated everything you do for me. Bobby's parents pretty much wrote him off. They don't even know he has mutant abilities. Even before we found out I'm actually your son, you were there. I guess I just never realized that not everyone has that."

"I didn't have that. So it's important to me that you do, even if it means I go overboard sometime." Tony glanced over at Peter. There wasn't much he wouldn't do for Peter and he knew he'd be the same way with Morgan.

Peter smiled, "You're a great dad. I can't wait to see how you do with a baby!"

* * *

**A/N: I have had the WORST case of writer's block...so apologies for taking so long to post this. Also, funny story, originally I was NOT planning on getting into 'the college years'. Then Sony & Disney went through their on again/off again break up and it came out that one of the scenarios for Spider-Man was to have him at college with Johnny Storm and Bobby Drake. Almost like a unifying character for the MCU, the Fantastic Four and X-Men. So, I started wondering what that would look like...apparently it starts like this in my brain. I know it's a little different than most of the origin stories for Bobby Drake (and ultimately Johnny Storm when I get there). **

**With this addition, I now also have a small dilemma. When I started this, the story was purely about how the relationship between Tony & Peter changed over time. I had a couple off shoot scenes/story lines in my head that were either Peter with some grouping of the team, or Peter and Ned & MJ but it didn't really impact the Tony and Peter relationship so I opted to leave them out. The 'college years' won't have as much Tony in them but I feel like it'll be too confusing if I break it out as a separate story. SO...as of right now it'll just continue into this story.**

**Thanks to everyone who is reading. I love seeing that someone new has followed or a new review pop up!**


	73. Chapter 73 - Stuck At School

Peter glanced at his watch to see if there was a new message. There wasn't. No update since an hour ago. He looked at the time instead. Twenty more minutes of class before he could send a text to demand an update. He had already gotten his phone taken away, he didn't need the watch taken too. Which meant he couldn't risk texting in class. He didn't realize he was bouncing his leg until MJ reached over and slapped her hand down on his thigh holding it down.

"Stop!" She hissed. Eyes were glancing over at Peter who had been on edge all day. He was ridiculously nervous and it was starting to become a problem.

Peter forced himself to stay still. He glanced down at his book. Math? That couldn't be right. He looked around and saw his Physics teacher at the front of the class. Good thing it was a class he could breeze through. Ignoring the book he tried to concentrate on the board. Unfortunately, it was something he already knew. Which meant his mind could wander. Which meant his eyes went back to his watch. No update. Crap.

After an excruciating amount of time, the bell rang signaling the end of class. He immediately sent a text which really just consisted of a bunch of "?".

_"Nothing yet."_

He showed the response to Ned as they walked into class. "What does that mean!?"

Ned looked at his friend sympathetically. "It means there hasn't been a change."

Peter rolled his eyes and threw himself into his chair. Looking around he figured out they were in Spanish class. Great. He had come to the conclusion that he hated Spanish. He had come to that conclusion a couple years ago, but right now he was finding new depths of hatred. But on a positive note, it meant that he was only two classes from being done for the day. Less if he disobeyed Tony's direct order and cut out early. He weighed the pros and cons and decided that possibly being stuck in his room by himself was enough to convince him to stay until the end of the day.

By the time he was in his last class, his eyes never left the clock. He never truly understood how long 55 minutes was until that point. He watched every minute tick off the clock. Every. Single. Minute. Finally, he was 30 seconds away from 2:45. The bell rang and he darted out of the classroom. He didn't stop by the office and pick up his phone. He just pushed his way out the door, past all the kids, and headed to the fence at the back of the school. It was deserted enough that he could jump the fence and head to an alley to change.

Less than two minutes later he was swinging on a path that would take him across the channel and directly to the tower. Karen estimated his travel time to be ten minutes. Too slow. He could shave off a couple minutes.

Eight minutes later he landed on his balcony. He had debated going to a different balcony but his room was close enough to the elevator that he figured it would be just as fast. Skidding through his room he threw his mask on his bed and ran to the elevator. "FRIDAY, Hurry Up!"

FRIDAY didn't respond. Peter figured he could apologize to her later. Right now he just really wanted to get there. The doors opened to his destination. Rhodey and Nat were sitting on one of the couches in what was intended to be a waiting room of sorts. Every time someone spent an extended period of time in MedBay, whether at the compound or here, they redesigned it right after. This was the latest configuration that Tony had put in after Peter had spent a couple days there after the incident with Osborn. Too many people had ended up sitting, or in Bucky's case, sleeping on the floor.

"Peter, it's not even 3:00. How did you get here so fast?" Natasha glanced between the panicked teen and her watch.

"I don't know. I went really fast. What's the latest." Peter bounced on his toes.

"Contractions aren't that far apart. Pepper's doctor thinks Morgan will be here within the hour." Natasha smirked at Peter who was visibly irritated that his sister wasn't here yet. "Why don't you go change."

Peter shook his head. "What if she comes while I'm changing?" Instead, he paced. Rhodey and Natasha just shook their heads and went back to their conversation. They only offered a glance when Peter flipped up to the ceiling and started pacing upside down. He looked at his watch when he felt it vibrate with a text.

_"Are you at the tower?"_

Peter texted back "yes" as he flipped off the ceiling.

_"Morgan wants to say hi."_

Peter tapped lightly on the door as his dad pulled it open. He looked past him and saw Pepper holding a tightly wrapped bundle he assumed was Morgan.

"Want to hold her?" Pepper asked softly from the bed.

Peter nodded as he crossed the distance to stand next to Pepper. It took a few seconds of Tony and Pepper adjusting Morgan in his arms before he had her nestled firmly against him and could look down into eyes that we're just barely open. "She's so tiny." He heard Tony's phone make the distinct sound of a picture being taken and he glanced up.

"You know he's in the suit, right?" Pepper asked with a tone of amusement.

"I can put it on my desk upstairs. No one but us goes In there." Tony grinned as he took a series of pictures.

"I can't put it on mine." Pepper looked over at Peter. "You're going to have to change."

"I'm not done holding Morgan yet." Peter grinned. He carefully sat down In one of the chairs and cradled Morgan in the crook of his arm. Morgan opened her eyes and cooed at the change in position before closing her eyes again. "Natasha and Rhodey are outside too."

"I know. We thought we'd give you a few minutes before letting Natasha in here. For a deadly assassin, she loves babies. You should see her with Barton's kids." Tony leaned back against the wall and looked at the scene in front of him. Never in a million years would he have thought he would be in a room with three people he loved as much as he loved Pepper, Peter, and Morgan. He didn't even know it was possible to feel the way he did right now. Part of his mind kept trying to tell him he didn't deserve it but right now he tamped that's part down and just enjoyed what he considered to be a perfect moment.


	74. Chapter 74 - A Really Bad Idea

"I just think it's really bad idea."

Bucky and Sam glanced over at each other. Peter had been on the phone for the last ten minutes. It was a little hard not to overhear at least Peter's side of the conversation. Bucky had figured out a couple minutes into it that Peter was talking to MJ. He looked over at the teen who was pacing in front of the kitchen.

"I can't tell you why you can't go. I'm just telling you not to go."

Bucky and Sam both cringed. Even without know what Peter was talking about, they knew that was the absolutely worst thing he could have said.

"Fine!"

Bucky reached up and snagged Peter's phone out of the air as it came flying across the room. Setting it on the table he looked over at the teen who had jumped over the back of the sofa and settled into the corner with his arms crossed in one fluid movement. "Want to talk about it."

Peter growled. "MJ broke up with me. So there's that."

Sam sat his controller down. "Just a tip going forward...you can't tell a female not to do something. Especially not one like MJ."

Peter glared at Sam. "She's spending the summer in Africa. Do you remember that op we did a couple months ago with the terrorist cell? She'll be about 50 miles from there. But I can't tell her why she can't go because it's all classified. I even offered to go with her which made things even worse. She said she didn't need Spider-Man to save her from anything. That she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

Bucky smiled. "I can fix that. Not the telling her part. But the keeping her safe. All of our intel came from Wakanda's War Dogs. Nakia is embedded in that area. We can get her to keep an eye on her."

Peter rolled around the idea. He had met Nakia briefly when they were doing the post mission briefing. She seemed a lot like MJ. "You think she'll agree to it?"

Bucky nodded. "I'll get a message to her." He handed Peter a game controller. "So, problem solved. Next question. Why are you at the compound. And why isn't Tony?"

"Morgan started teething. I just needed a break. Dad was the one that suggested it." Peter took the controller and waited for the game to start. "He almost came with me but Pepper said no."

* * *

Graduation was more of a hassle than anything else. Peter wished he could have just skipped it. He put on the stupid cap and gown and smiled for all of the pictures. He envied Bobby. His graduation consisted of a handshake with Professor X and a nice dinner. Peter was forced to endure two full days of festivities both at school and at home. Home was at least manageable. May, Happy, Pepper, and Tony were predictable. Over the top as usual, but predictable. And he at least had Morgan as backup. School was another matter entirely. The entire time was spent trying not to watch MJ. The only thing that made him feel moderately better was the fact that MJ looked just as miserable as he felt. But that only served to simultaneously make him feel worse because he didn't want her to be miserable. It was an odd sensation.

After MJ left for Africa, Peter made a point to get daily briefings on the region. That is until FRIDAY banned him from the operations center at the compound. Then, he had to spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to talk, or in some cases bribe, the other Avengers into feeding him intel. Steve threatened to take away his clearance after the first week. Steve couldn't kick him out of the compound but he could restrict his access. Bucky tried to continue to pass him information. At least until Steve threatened to cut off his access as well. It finally took Steve calling Tony and getting him to intervene.

"Kid, Pepper has broken up with me more times than I can count because I've gone overboard on being protective. There is a fine line and you're way past it." Tony watched Peter pace around their living area at the compound.

"You know how dangerous it is there. We did an op there targeting a terror cell that was using alien tech."

Tony rubbed his hand across his face. "And Bucky has T'Challa and Nakia watching the area. I'm not sure you fully comprehend how capable they are. The only reason we went in was because it's a neighboring nation to Wakanda and if T'Challa goes in and does an op that big alone it looks like Wakanda is invading."

"I know they're capable. I just need to be doing something." Peter looked over at his dad.

"You need a distraction. You're obsessing over something you can't control This isn't about a terrorist cell it's about MJ." Tony crossed his arms and looked at his son. MJ and Peter had broken up a couple times before but this time seemed a little more permanent.

"She broke up with me because she thought I was being overbearing and smothering her. But she's spending 8 weeks in an area that isn't the safest. I think I'm justified in being a little overbearing."

Neither one of them had realized that Pepper had walked into the room until they heard her patented "No."

Looking in the direction it had come from Peter and Tony saw Pepper standing outside Morgan's bedroom. Arms crossed she walked over to the duo. "Peter, is T'Challa capable of handling something if it comes up?"

"Yes."

"In all of the briefings you've seen on the area has there been anything that makes you think something is going to happen?" Pepper eyed the teen because she could predict his answer at this point.

"No, but..."

"Stop. Pack your bags. I'll call Mrs. Leeds and Charles. Tony is right." She paused long enough to give Tony a look that said 'Don't you dare say a word'. "You need a distraction. We're going on vacation. Think of it as a Senior trip with Ned and Bobby before everyone heads off to college."

Peter frowned. In the entire time he had known Tony and Pepper he had never seen them take a vacation. Maybe a weekend here or there but nothing he would classify as a 'vacation'. Of course he didn't really think he had a good grasp on what constituted a 'vacation'. He, May, and Ben hadn't really taken many vacations. "What?"

"A vacation. Somewhere different. Can't be anywhere too remote since we'll have Morgan with us."

Tony smiled and looked over at Pepper. "How about Hawaii? You've used the house, what...twice?"

Peter looked at Tony in astonishment. "You have a house in Hawaii?" He knew about the building in Hong Kong and knew that Pepper had a house in California. Tony had also bought a house outside of Boston for Peter and Bobby to live in while they were at MIT. He had no idea there was a house in Hawaii.

"Pepper has a house in Hawaii." Tony corrected. "Christmas present one year."

Pepper rolled her eyes when Peter laughed. "Hawaii is a great idea. The boys will have plenty to do and it's secluded enough that we shouldn't have to deal with reporters."

Peter cringed. He had quickly discovered that he didn't really like the media. They had so far been able to keep his and Tony's actual relationship quiet. It had been discussed and the pros and cons had been weighed. Tony had wanted to tell the world that Peter was his son. Peter and Pepper had been completely against the idea and had eventually won. Peter didn't deal well with being the center of attention so he hated the idea of having to endure any kind of press conference. He liked their quiet life where they could pretend they were a normal family.

After Morgan's birth, it's like there was a competition to see who could get the first picture of her. Peter decided at that point that most reporters were vultures. The lengths everyone had to go to in order to avoid someone shoving a camera in their face was ridiculous.

Peter stared at the two adults. "You want to go to Hawaii?"

"Yep...pack your bags."


	75. Chapter 75 - Hawaii

Peter stepped off the steps of the jet and looked at the landscape in front of him. It was unlike anything he had seen. He, Bobby, and Ned has been glued to the windows of the jet as soon as land had come into sight, breaking up the expanse of blue. But, actually looking at the view in front of him was something entirely different. He heard movement behind him and turned to look at Ned who wasn't looking in the direction of the cliff overlooking the ocean but at a huge house.

"Awesome!" Ned murmured as he looked at his friend. "I can't believe Ms. Potts has a house in Hawaii you didn't know about."

Peter smiled. He had never asked. Something told him that Tony and Pepper probably owned a lot of property he didn't know about. It just wasn't important to him. It never had been.

Morgan caught sight of her brother and instantly threw her arms out. Tony frowned as he handed her off to Peter. If Peter was anywhere within her line of vision she demanded that he pay attention to her. Luckily, Peter was always willing to spend time with her. Tony sighed and adjusted his bag to compensate for not having Morgan on one side. Peter, on the other hand, had no trouble managing a 6 month old and his bag. Perks of having super strength.

Everyone made their way inside. The boys froze in the entrance as Tony pointed them in the direction of their wing. "I can't believe we have a 'wing'." Bobby looked around in amazement. He had experienced culture shock going from his family's tiny apartment in New York to Professor Xavier's school but this was on a whole other level. "Whoa...check out the pool."

Peter and Ned looked in the direction Bobby was staring. Tony, anticipating the question, nodded. "Yes, you can change and get in the pool. Pep and I will get Morgan settled."

Morgan instinctively tightened her grip around Peter's neck. Peter grinned. "Or, you and Pepper get settled and Morgan and I can explore this side of the house." Peter followed the other two boys, Morgan in one arm, bag still thrown over the other shoulder.

Within the hour, all three boys were in the pool and Morgan was attempting a nap. Attempting being the operative word. Giving up on the nap, Morgan and Pepper joined Tony under a cabana and watched the boys in the pool.

Tony realized he enjoyed watching Peter just be a teenager. More often than not he spent his days and nights watching Peter take on more than most adults would or could. He, himself, had never been big on vacations. In his younger years, what probably seemed like vacations to the average person were incredibly stressful for him. He honestly couldn't remember a time that he had relaxed. He wasn't sure he knew what it meant to relax. But, he was guessing that he was experiencing a moment of it now. As far has he knew, there was no pending threat, no Stark Industries emergency, Peter hadn't taken on any supervillains recently, and everyone was healthy. He knew it wouldn't last, but for now it was nice.

* * *

The boys discovered a path that led down to the beach and spent the majority of their days alternating between the pool and the beach. Peter loved being in water. He had been swimming before and was a fairly proficient swimmer but had never really spent time under the water. There just wasn't much to see in the Atlantic Ocean, the beach at Coney Island and some of the others I'm the area were really the only time he'd been in the ocean. The ocean here was full of fish and coral. He had even seen a couple of sea turtles. The boys finally figured out that if they had snorkel gear they could stay under longer so they talked Tony into letting them drive into the nearest town to buy gear.

Ned and Bobby looked at Peter when he came out of his room wearing a baseball cap and hoodie. "That really works?"

Peter shrugged. "Yeah, for some reason people look past you." With the press hounding Tony and Pepper after Morgan had been born, Peter had quickly embraced baseball caps and hoodies at Tony's suggestion. They all knew the fact that he was Tony's biological son would come out eventually but he wanted to put it off as long as possible.

He pulled the car out of the garage and they made their way down the mountain into the closest town. Snorkel gear secured they decided to stop at a local restaurant for lunch. Peter still had a baseball cap on but had let the hood fall back. He smiled at his two friends as they discussed the latest fortnight season. He was glad Tony had encouraged him to get to know Bobby. He was a great guy and it was nice to have someone to talk to who wasn't 100% normal. He thought of Ned as almost a brother but there were times that Ned just couldn't understand what he was going through. Ned always thought his powers and abilities were cool. There were times that Peter hated his abilities...well, maybe hate was too strong of a word. He was content to be lost in his thoughts until he heard "...Stark...". He looked around and realized that it had come from the table next to them.

_"I heard it was Stark and that girlfriend of his. Not many other people have access to a jet that can take off and land in their front yard."_

_"Wonder what they're doing here. Shouldn't Stark be out pretending to save someone? Or pretending to be inventing something?"_

_"Or destroying something."_

Ned looked over at Peter. "We should go."

Peter shook his head. "It's fine."

"It's really not. Ned's right. We should go." Bobby glanced over at the group at the table. It would be easy to change the temperature of their food. He thought better of it when he realized how calm Peter was seemed.

"They both keep telling me to ignore stuff like this. Which is exactly what we're going to do." He noticed their waitress coming over with their food and shifted his arms out of the way. She sat their plates down in front of them just in time to hear another rant about Tony Stark. She smiled at the three boys and make sure they didn't need anything before swinging around to the other table and slapping their check down.

"Tony Stark is quite possibly one of the most amazing men in this generation. Not only is he a visionary and a genius, he risks his life time and time again to save people. People just like you. So instead of bashing someone you've never met why don't you do a little bit of fact checking. The number of people that he has saved as Iron Man is mind boggling. I know this for a fact because my mother was one of them. She was on the president's plane when it was targeted. When she was plummeting to earth she thought she was going to die. Until she and everyone else that had been tossed out of the plane were snagged out of mid air by Iron Man." Not waiting for a response she walked away leaving the table of people in shock.

Peter had to fight back a grin at the looks on their faces. He completely enjoyed his food and left a ridiculously large tip when they left.

* * *

The boys spent the entire afternoon snorkeling. When they bought the gear the man at the store had warned them that even though it didn't seem like a strenuous activity it would wear them out quickly. When Pepper suggested a movie none of them protested. Peter thought Ned would be out before 8:00. Bobby would probably make the end of the movie but would then sleep like a rock. Peter just felt like he had done a normal patrol. A few minutes into the movie he heard his dad's phone vibrate.

Tony looked down at his phone and stood up when he saw who it was. Answering it as he walked down the hall towards his bedroom, he was aware Peter was following him. "You know we're on vacation, right?"

"I know. Forget I called."

Tony had put the phone on speaker after Peter had shut the door behind him. "You might as well at least tell us what's going on."

Peter heard Steve audibly sigh. "There was an attack in Hong Kong. Same weapons as we found in Africa. The group didn't make a clean escape and they have hostages. China is asking for help. One of their hostages is the Chinese presidents' niece."

Peter watched his dad. He had been paying attention enough in civics class in school to know how big of a deal it was that China was asking for help. And he knew how big of a presence SI had in Hong Kong. If Iron Man didn't show up when the Avengers were asked for help, SI would face the consequences. He answered Steve without giving his dad the chance. "We'll be there. Send the info to FRIDAY."

Tony clinched his jaw. This was the very last thing he wanted to do. "When?"

"We're leaving within the hour which means you two have about three hours." Steve knew Tony's jet was slightly faster than the Quinjet. "Tony, I'm sorry."

"Yeah. See you in Hong Kong." Tony disconnected the call and looked at Peter. "You don't have to go."

"If you're going. I'm going." Peter crossed his arms. He really didn't expect a fight about it.

Tony let out a sigh. "Grab your gear. We'll need to leave soon. Easiest place to land is going to be the SI tower instead of going to the airport."

Peter headed to his room and grabbed his bag before going back to the living room. He could tell from the look on Pepper's face she had already guessed that he and Tony had to leave. The looks of confusion on Ned and Bobby's face told him that they had no idea what was going on. He saw Tony coming out of Morgan's room. "We should be back tomorrow night. Hold down the fort." Peter smiled at Bobby and Ned. Ned had realized what Tony and Peter were doing and would fill Bobby in after they left.

Tony leaned over and kissed Pepper. "I love you. We'll be back tomorrow night."

Pepper and the two boys watched Tony and Peter walk out. After the door closed she turned to look at the two boys. "I'm going to check on Morgan then go to bed. Don't stay up too late."


	76. Chapter 76 - Return

Pepper thought she had heard Morgan but then the noise quieted down so Pepper snuggled back under the covers. She woke up again when she heard another noise and forced herself out of bed. She realized while she was pulling her robe on that Tony was asleep next to her. He had gotten much better at sneaking into bed without waking her up. She wasn't even aware that he and Peter had made it back. Logic dictated that they had both returned unhurt. If Peter had been hurt, Tony wouldn't be in bed. He'd be right next to his son. If Tony had been hurt there's no way Peter would have let him just go to bed. She smiled at the fact that Peter could get Tony to do things that no one else would have been able to. She was already guessing that Morgan would have the same affect.

She headed down the hall to Morgan's room when she saw a faint glow from the living room. Changing direction she headed for the living room to find Peter nestled on the couch with Morgan and an empty bottle on the table next to them. "Want me to take her?"

Peter shook his head. "Go back to sleep. I thought I got her in time not to wake you or dad up."

Pepper picked up the empty bottle. "Peter you've got to be tired. She's almost back to sleep anyway."

"Sleeping on the couch with my baby sister is exactly what I want to be doing right now." He formed one of the web-shooters and quickly spun almost a cocoon around Morgan, securing her to his chest. "There, now you don't have to worry about her falling off." He grinned up at Pepper.

Pepper smiled and started to walk out. She paused and looked back and saw Peter with his hand resting on Morgan's back. "Peter, are you sure you're ok."

Peter looked back at Pepper from his position on the couch. "I'm ok. It was a hard trip."

"Peter...". Pepper didn't know what to say that hadn't been said a million times before. "Peter, I wish you didn't feel like you needed to do this."

"I know. Pepper, I do this because I can. I wish bad people didn't exist in this world. For Morgan and all of the other kids out there. But they do. And they keep doing bad things. So as long as they do bad things, I'm going to keep fighting them."

"Because you can." Pepper set her jaw. She it was a repeat of every conversation after every not so good mission.

"Because I can." He looked over at Pepper again. "And because I can, if I didn't and something happened...I couldn't live with myself." He thought back to right after his uncle had been killed. The guilt had been overwhelming. May had been the only thing that had held him together.

Pepper walked over, leaning over she kissed Peter on the forehead. "I hope you know how much you are loved. Come get me if she wakes up." She stood up and left the room leaving Peter and Morgan safely ensconced on the couch. She understood that Peter needed to make sure Morgan was safe right now. She also knew that she would never know what had happened. But, that was part of the package. The fact that Tony was asleep meant that they had talked everything out on the way home. Didn't mean that she liked it but it, not knowing the details, but it was something she had learned to live with a long time ago.

* * *

"So how many countries have you been to?" Bobby and Ned had woken up to find Tony and Peter back but, unlike Pepper, they were frustrated that Peter wasn't offering up details.

Peter was used to fending off Ned's questions. Adding Bobby to the mix was making it more challenging. "I have never been out of the country. You can check my passport. It's completely blank."

"Well, we all know that's not true." Bobby looked at his friend. They had talked superhero stuff before. Part of what Professor Xavier taught them was how to use their powers. Mainly defensive, but there was some offensive training as well. They all understood the world they lived in. Peter just lived a little deeper in that world than the rest of them. "Can you at least tell us if you're done or if you and Mr. Stark are going to have to leave again?"

Peter smiled. "We should not have to leave again. Plus, I think we're heading home in another couple days. Pepper keeps reminding me that we all have to pack for college. He looked over at Ned, "Of course you're actually closer to Cal Tech from here. But I don't think your mom would be ok with you leaving for school from here."

Ned shook his head. "No, but if I did I could probably avoid all of the tears."

Bobby and Peter weren't entirely sure if Ned was talking about himself or his mother. Ned had made the decision to go to Cal Tech because their computer program was slightly better than MIT's. But, he was struggling with being so far away. While Peter was wallowing in the fact that his circle of friends was breaking up, he had realized that it was going to be hard on all of them. He was a 4 hour drive away from home. His dad could come up any time. Ned was going to be a 5 hour flight plus having to deal with getting in and out of an airport. MJ...MJ still wasn't really talking to him. He had gotten a picture of MJ and some orphans in response to one of the texts he had sent her. And then another picture of her and Nakia. After that one he figured that she knew he had people checking on her. He had gotten a status update in Hong Kong. She was ok and headed back to the states next week.

Figuring he wasn't getting anywhere with Peter, Bobby changed subjects. "Ned, do who your roommate is yet?"

Ned shook his head. He was entering Cal Tech as a sophomore just like Peter was since they had both done dual enrollment their last two years of high school but unlike Peter, his mother was making him live in the dorms his first year. "They send them out next week. I'm hoping that I'll at least be on the same floor as some of the people who were at that coding camp."

Peter frowned. "You mean the one where you all created a virus that almost destroyed all life in Pennsylvania?"

Ned nodded, "A couple of them are going to Cal Tech. At least I'll know someone."

"Wait, back up to 'destroy all life'". Bobby looked between Peter and Ned. "What did you do?"

Ned adopted a look of innocence. "It wasn't that bad."

"Wasn't that bad? I nearly froze to death. And the walls were crying. It is still the creepiest thing I've had to deal with." Peter glanced over at Bobby and cringed. "But I wasn't actually there."

Bobby shook his head. "Yeah...I don't believe that. I'm just glad we don't have to live in the dorm."

"Have you two actually seen the house?"

Peter nodded in response to Ned's question. "I thought if I went with him I'd be able to rein him in but you know how he is."

"I've just seen pictures." Bobby shrugged.

"Well, I would definitely rather be living with you two than in the dorm."

* * *

Peter, Bobby, and Ned hated to leave the island. They had squeezed in as much as they could before they left. Now that Tony and Pepper knew how much they enjoyed it, they made a conscious decision to try to force themselves to actually take trips. Tony was astonished at how much he enjoyed himself. They all regretfully boarded the jet and left the island behind. The flight back was relatively subdued as were the weeks following. Ned left for California a couple weeks later. Peter and MJ exchanged some texts before she headed to Princeton. Peter tried to squeeze as much time as Spider-Man as possible, blowing his curfew multiple times. It was partially a distraction from MJ but also because he knew he wouldn't be able to do it in Boston.

Bobby and Peter were the last to leave. Tony found himself fighting the urge to just stay in Boston. He had been offered multiple positions over the years and with the amount he donated to MIT he truly could have opted to stay. But, he knew Peter needed to stand on his own and he was looking forward to spending time with Morgan since Pepper was heading back to work full time. Pepper had been mainly working from home since Morgan was born and it was time to get back to work full time. A new normal was emerging. Tony just hoped that it was one they could adjust to.


	77. Chapter 77 - Doppelganger

Peter looked up from his textbook when he heard his phone. Frowning, he tapped the button and connected the call. "You never video call dad. What's up?"

"Just making sure you're where your tracker says you are." Tony studied the details he could see in the background. Definitely Peter's bedroom at school.

"I'm in my room, in Boston. If you want to get specific, I'm actually I'm Cambridge because that's that's where the house is that you bought. Seriously, what's wrong." Peter pulled the phone closer to him and studied the expression on his dad's face.

"I'm sending you a video clip from about ten minutes ago. Bobby hasn't discovered some kind of teleportation ability has he?"

Peter frowned and tapped the file on his tablet that just came through. It showed a news clip of Spider-Man pulling people out of a turned over bus. In Queens. Except it wasn't him. "Dad, that's not me." He looked closer. "He's smaller than me. And the suit looks homemade." He looked back at his dad. "I swear it's not me."

Tony nodded. "I just wanted to make sure. I know you're struggling a little being so far from home." He paused and looked back at the video. "What do you think, wanna be superhero?"

Peter backed up the video and froze it. "He's sticky." He looked back at Tony, "Think FRIDAY can track him down?"

"Yeah." Tony looked at Peter. "I'll let you know when she finds him."

* * *

Peter gently landed on the rooftop. A figure was sitting on one of the parapets with his legs hanging over the edge. He looked like he was wearing all black except Peter knew he had a crimson spider on the front. He really liked how the suit had turned out. He approached the figure and sat on the parapet next to him and swung his feet over the side.

"Thanks for the suit."

Peter had already seen the file FRIDAY had put together and knew how young the kid was. "Looks good on you."

"I was worried that you were going to be mad because I took your name but then I argued that if you made me a suit you couldn't be too mad." The kid looked over at Spider-Man, The Spider-Man. Miles didn't know what he was thinking. There's no way he could fill the shoes of Spider-Man. He wasn't a hero.

Peter smiled, although with the mask on he knew the kid couldn't see it. "I'm not mad. I am curious though."

"About how I got these powers?" Miles looked over at Spider-Man, trying to figure him out.

"Among other things, but yeah, let's start there."

"I was hanging out in one of the abandoned subway tunnels, working on a graffiti project and a spider bit me." Miles looked over at Spider-Man. "Is that how you got yours?"

"Spider bite, yes. I was on a field tip and stumbled into a lab with all of these animals and insects in containers. One of the animals jumped and it scared me. I bumped into the table with all of the cases holding the spiders and knocked them all off onto the floor." Peter looked over at Miles. "So, it's probably one of those that bit you because they all scattered when the containers broke." Peter shuddered remembering all of the spiders. He was just as arachnophobic today as he was then. "Sorry." He hadn't really thought about what had happened to all of the other spiders.

Miles shrugged. "It's ok. So did you get really sick after you got bitten?"

Peter nodded. "It was like a horrible case of flu. I really don't get sick now unless I'm hurt."

Miles smiled. "The healing part is pretty cool."

Peter nodded. Based on what he remembered Osborn saying he thought there might have been different varieties of the Super Soldier serum in the spiders. He was curious if Miles' abilities were different. "Just a heads up, broken ribs, a 4 inch knife wound, and the flu will knock you on your rear. If your healing factor is like mine it'll triage the wounds which means you end up with the flu." And you will completely freak your father out Peter thought to himself. Of course they hadn't know Tony was actually his father then. But, thinking back, Tony was acting like a parent way back then too.

"Did you have problems with the stickiness? I still get stuck to things." Miles didn't love the sticky aspects. It came in handy and he figured it was part of it but he hated randomly getting stuck to paper when he wasn't trying too.

Peter shook his head. "I've always been able to control it. I think it has something to do with the way my brain is wired." He held out the arm of the Iron Spider suit and retracted the glove and then reformed it. "Nanotech. Not everyone can control it. I'm pretty sure it works the same way the stickiness does." He looked over at Miles who was still staring at his arm. "I have a lot of trouble with sensory overload though."

Miles shook his head. "That part doesn't bother me as much."

"Be glad. There was an accident in the chem lab at school a couple years ago and I got completely overloaded. Smell, sound, touch...you name it. I still have problems from time to time." Peter looked over at the younger boy. The scientist in him found all of this fascinating. Another part of him wanted to know the rest of it. "Why did you decide to become Spider-Man?"

Miles sucked in a breath. "My dad's a cop. My uncle...my uncle has always been on the other side of the law." Miles didn't know everything his uncle was into but he knew a lot of it wasn't good. "So I've always had this pull between the two of them. I don't always get along with my dad and my uncle has always been there when I need someone to talk to. But I see what they both go through and why they do the things they do. It dawned on me one day that they both chose their path because of the same reason." He looked over at Spider-Man, "There are some really bad people out there. To survive, you either fight against them or you become them. My uncle isn't a bad guy, he just isn't strong enough to fight against them. My dad isn't strong enough to fight against them either but he does it anyway." Miles looked out over the city. "After the spider bite, I am strong enough."

Peter looked at the boy and then turned to look out on the city too. "It's a lot to take on."

"I know, and I'm not trying to fill your shoes. I'm just trying to do what I can around me." Miles paused and then turned and looked at Peter. "I've heard both my uncle and my dad talk about you. I always found it interesting that, despite being polar opposites, they both think a lot of you. My dad would talk about how Spider-Man had stopped a mugging or a robbery and had left the bad guys neatly wrapped up for them. And how it made their job easier. There are never enough cops and always too many bad guys. My uncle met you once. You saved his life. It was right after you started hearing about Spider-Man. I don't know all of the details but it was around the time when you took down that Vulture guy. I just want to try to make a difference like you do. Maybe stop my dad or my uncle from getting killed. When I got bit, no one had seen you for a couple weeks. I thought I could fill in for you while you were gone." Miles looked over at Spider-Man. "If you're back..."

Peter shook his head. "I haven't been around because I'm at college. So if you want to fill in for me while I'm gone I'm ok with it."

"Really!" Miles grinned at Spider-Man. "That's awesome."

"Just don't try to take on too much. Just help people out. If you run across anything too big to handle yourself, I left a way to contact me with the suit." Peter paused, "or if you ever just need someone you can trust. Spiders need to stick together." Peter pushed up to a standing position. "Good luck kid." Flinging his wrist he shot a web as he dove off the building. After all this time he still loved the feeling. He took his time getting back to the tower. He really couldn't swing like this at school. His time spent as Spider-Man was reduced to when he thought he could get away with no one seeing him.

* * *

Tony saw the glint of the gold on the Iron Spider suit as FRIDAY told him Peter was nearing the tower. He watched him approach and then gently land within a couple feet of where he was standing. "How did it go?"

Peter retracted the mask, then let the rest of the suit retract into the nanohousing on his watch. "He's a good kid." He shrugged. "It's kind of weird...it's almost a relief that he's patrolling. I think he's doing it for the right reasons."

Tony nodded and continued to study his son's face. Spider-Man meant a lot to Peter so the fact that he was willing to share the name was a big deal. "The number is set up to go to FRIDAY. If he needs help she can send an SOS. If he just needs someone to talk to she'll connect him to Karen."

Peter nodded and looked at the skyline. He missed this. Boston wasn't the same but he knew college was something he needed to do. "Thanks dad."


	78. Chapter 78 - The Odyssey

Peter put a plate of loaded nachos on the table slid into the booth across from Bobby. The Odyssey had quickly become their favorite hangout. It was a dive bar at best, but it had pool tables, classic video games, and decent bar food. A couple other people from labs and classes joined them on occasion, some enjoying the fact that it was an actual bar a little too much. Peter realized that he could easily order any drink he wanted, but with his metabolism it would be like throwing money down the drain and old habits died hard. Plus, he was pretty sure he had inherited his dad's issues with substance abuse. After the accident it was one of the things they had talked about while they were at Clint's cabin. Peter hadn't turned to pain killers but his desire to escape meant all of the underlying psychological reasons were there. When they found out that Tony was biologically his father, all of Peter's coping mechanisms started making a lot more sense.

"Are you ready for your physics test next week?" Bobby asked as Peter settled into the booth.

Peter nodded and took a sip of his lemonade. Unlike some of the other places students chose to hang out, the Odyssey did not play obnoxiously loud music which meant that Peter didn't struggle with everything being too loud. "We haven't gotten to anything I haven't done before. How about your trig test?"

Before Bobby could answer a group walked over to their booth and squeezed in next to them. "Please tell me you two aren't talking about school. It's officially the weekend." The girl that had slid into the booth next to Bobby looked across at Peter. "Plus, you both have the highest grades in the classes I have with you. You need to give the rest of us a chance."

Peter smiled across the table. "Gwen, you don't need anyone's help. We all know you're holding your own."

She shrugged, "Still, it would be nice to have the top score on a test. We're halfway through the first semester and that hasn't happened yet." She reached. over and grabbed one of Bobby's mozzarella sticks and took a bite.

"Don't hold your breath Gwen. I had to go up against Midtown for Academic Decathlon in high school. They crushed it every time. The boy knows his science." The boy slid into the booth next to Peter, pushing him over to make room.

"Wyatt, it's not like we won all of our meets." Peter looked over at the newcomer.

Wyatt picked in his beer and took a sip. "You all went to Nationals three years in a row."

"We're going to play pool, anyone want to come?" The rest of the group looked down at the foursome. "Gwen, you owe us a rematch."

Shrugging she stood up. "Only if you want to be beat by a girl again." She looked over at Peter and winked. "Save me some nachos."

Wyatt picked up his beer and stood to follow. "I better make sure Johnny doesn't loose too much money. Gwen beats him every time they play."

Bobby and Peter watched the group descend on the pool tables. "You sure you don't want to play?"

Peter shook his head. "I hate having to act like I can't make every shot. It's like golf. If I make every shot people ask me to many questions. Plus, I'm starving."

"If Pepper finds out all you're eating is bar food we'll end up with a live in chef." Bobby reached over and grabbed a nacho off of Peter's plate.

"Then we need to make sure she doesn't fine out." Peter grinned as he shoved another nacho into his mouth.

* * *

Peter had found himself actually enjoying hanging out with this group. He had Ned had been pegged as nerds at an early age and it had stuck all the way through school. Even at what would be considered a 'nerd school' they were still in a different category that most definitely wasn't the cool group. Here, it was different. Maybe it was because no one really had an established group of friends. It was like everyone was starting over and reestablishing their 'groups'.

He was immensely grateful Bobby was his roommate. Having someone who knew who he was made him less self conscious. Before Ned had found out he had felt isolated. There was a huge part of his life that he had to keep hidden. Now, when they were at home he could walk on the ceiling without freaking anyone out. He knew Bobby felt the same relief at not having to hide his powers all the time.

Bobby was also a great person to vent to when he got frustrated at not being able to go out as Spider-Man. Bobby could be blunt but at times that was exactly what Peter needed. His dad and Ned were both almost too sympathetic. Bobby would tell him to suck it up and then pull Peter into their gym at home and make him train. It was something else he was really glad his dad had put in when he bought the house. Peter thought he was going overboard but Tony knew Peter would have to have a way to burn off excess energy if he wasn't Spider-Manning every night. It also turned out that Peter had picked up quite a few things from Natasha and Steve over the last couple years. Things that benefited Bobby tremendously. Professor Xavier and the rest of the mutants at the school had focused on training him to use his powers, but hadn't focused as much on how to actually fight. So that's what Peter and Bobby did. They had actually found quite a few ways to use their powers together, even thought they weren't sure when he would actually need to.

Peter was leaning against the wall watching Gwen destroy everyone at pool when the familiar tingle started. He turned us attention towards the back of the room. His Spidey sense was going off but not in the normal 'you're about to get hurt' way. He glanced around and saw a couple guys walking out the back door. Knowing it led to an alley, he stood up and headed in that direction. Gently pushing the door open he stepped out into the dimly lit area. The guys he had seen leaving had made their way to the far end of the alley and had girl cornered against the wall. As the Iron Spider suit formed around him he felt a change in temperature behind him.

"What? I'm backup."

Peter turned away from Bobby, who had transformed into his ice form and started towards the group. "You probably should leave her alone." His voice drew the attention of the group.

The group turned to look at where the voice had come from. "It's a little early for trick or treat."

"That's Spider-Man." One of the group nudged the leader.

"Who?" The leader eyed Spider-Man and Iceman. "They just look like freaks to me." He turned back to his prey when a dagger of ice embedded in the wall next to his head.

"Not freaks." Iceman gestured to himself. "Mutant." Then he tilted his head towards Spider-Man. "But he's on a whole other level."

Peter saw a glint of a steel knife in the leaders hand. "Ok...I'm done." He flipped his wrist and yanked the knife out of the man's hand. "Didn't your mother tell you knives are dangerous?"

The action was enough for the guys to move away from the girl, allowing her to escape. Peter focused on the group in front of him. "You need to go home."

The leader charged Peter which spurred the rest of them to attack as well. Peter easily flipped over the leaders attack. He heard him smack into Bobby and crumple into an unconscious lump on the ground. Peter flung his wrists and webbed up two of the guys, leaving two remaining. Seeing the state of their friends they took off running out of the alley.

"Karen, check for cameras." Peter looked around the alley himself. He knew there was one on the back of the building but he also knew he and Bobby had 'suited up' out of frame.

"Three cameras active. All caught the incident, none would have been able to identify you or Mr. Drake."

"Cool." He looked back at Bobby. "You good?" Bobby nodded and they both retreated back to the camera's blind spot to transform.


	79. Chapter 79 - Exposed

Bobby froze, spoon halfway to his mouth, at the sight of Iron Man...well, the Iron Man armor retreating to Mr. Stark's nanohousing, walking into the kitchen. He thought he had heard something but wasn't sure what it was and was honestly too tired to investigate. "Um...he's still asleep."

Tony nodded and walked down the hallway to Peter's bedroom. He thought about knocking but opted not to. Pushing the door open, he stopped at looked at the lump on the bed that was Peter. He couldn't help but to smile a little. Peter always looked so much younger when he was asleep. Walking over he sat down on the bed. "Up and at 'em kid."

Peter groaned. He distinctly heard his dad's voice but that couldn't be right. He snuggled into the covers more and pressed his arm further over his head.

"Yeah, not doing this right now. We've got a situation."

Peter's eyes snapped open and he moved his arm enough to look over at his dad, who indeed was sitting on his bed. In Boston. "What situation? Why are you here." He glanced over at the clock and groaned again. "At 6:30 in the morning."

Tony pulled up something on his phone and tapped it to bring up the hologram. Handing it to Peter he waited for it to sink in.

Peter looked at the hologram of a tabloid newspaper. Skimming the display the first thing that jumped out at him was the headline. 'Following in his Father's Footsteps'. Frowning he read the rest of it. Accompanying the headline was a picture of him at The Odyssey with his friends. Pushing himself up into a sitting position he read through the captions on the cover. "Ok, we'll first of all...she's not a bimbo. Second...no, we're not dating. Third...that's my lemonade in case you were curious." He pointed to the glass with the straw in it among the bottles on the table.

"Yeah, I know all of that...the problem is the general public doesn't. They see my kid, who's eighteen, in a bar, with a pretty blond. The headline wasn't a big leap." Tony looked at Peter. "I thought you'd be more concerned that it's out that you're my son."

Peter shrugged and looked over at his dad. "We knew it would get out eventually. I've only got two more finals before winter break so it's not a bad time for it to happen."

Tony narrowed his eyes and looked at Peter. "There are reporters camped outside."

Peter groaned and reached over to grab his phone off his nightstand.

"What are you doing?" Tony watched Peter tap out a text.

"Apologizing to Gwen for what the article says about her and telling her she might not want to leave her apartment today."

* * *

Peter slid the blinds back and looked out the window. Panic set in. He was way calmer an hour ago. Since then he had showered and gotten yelled at by Gwen on the phone. The reality of the media circus in front of his house was setting in and he was freaking out. "Dad, what do we do?"

Tony was remarkably calm. Part of him knew it was partially attributed to the fact that he could now tell Peter and Pepper 'I told you so'. It wasn't often he could say that to Pepper. They should have had a press conference over the summer but both of them had voted him down. "When are your finals?"

Peter had started pacing somewhat like a trapped animal. He looked over at Bobby who was sitting unnaturally still, but he could tell he was just as freaked out. "Both of them are tomorrow. Physics and Chemistry."

Tony almost laughed. This was going to be the easy part. "You've got Hopkins for physics, right? Sampson for Chemistry?"

Peter nodded and watched his dad hit a contact in his phone. "Mike...it's Tony." Peter zoned out after that...of course his dad had his professors on speed dial. It was one of the reasons Peter had wanted to hold off on any kind of announcement. When he was in high school it was about protecting the status quo. When he started college it was because Peter wanted to be seen as Peter, not the great Tony Stark's son. Hopefully he had made enough of an impression that all of his professors would see him and not his dad.

"Problem solved. You can take your finals in January. That'll give everything time to die down." Tony looked from Peter to Bobby. "Next problem, getting the two of you out of here. I wouldn't worry about packing anything. Grab your phones, wallets, whatever you absolutely need until January. Hopefully we can just drive out of here." He stared at the two boys and waited for them to move.

Peter grabbed his keys and tossed them to his dad. He was immensely grateful they had a garage right now. After Bobby had gotten in the back seat, he slid into the passenger seat and waited for his dad to get in. Instead, he watched him trigger the remote on the garage door and walk outside. Peter wished he could hear him better. When Tony Stark spoke people listened. While you couldn't hear the threat in his voice, Peter could definitely see it in the way he held his body and he could absolutely see it in his eyes, even hidden behind his trademark glasses, when he slid into the drivers seat.

"Pete, head up, eyes front. If they see panic it'll make it that much worse."

Peter did as his dad instructed and watched the sea of reporters part as Tony drove out of the garage. Stopping long enough to make sure the door was shut behind them, Tony simply drove down the driveway and onto the street. Peter looked at the chaos around him. On top of just reporters there were news trucks clogging most of the street. "This is ridiculous."

"Which is why we needed to control the release of information." Tony stopped just short of saying 'I told you so'. He recognized the look of controlled panic on Peter's face. "Pepper is working on logistics for a press conference. We can introduce Morgan to the world as well. Pepper is tired of trying to dodge photographers any time she goes out with her." He glanced over at Peter who was processing everything. "That way your sister can back you up if it gets to dicey." He smiled when that brought a grin to Peter's face. "Relax, it won't be that bad."

* * *

Peter decided that his dad's version of 'not that bad' and his version were totally different. They had always known that...Peter took a knife wound as something that just happened in a normal patrol. His dad saw it as an Avenger level threat. But, when it came to press conferences and media appearances their positions were reversed. Peter definitely felt like he needed backup right now as paced in his bedroom. Pepper had arranged for a handpicked reporter to interview the family in their home. Peter thought it really was a stroke of genius on her part. All of the uproar over his relationship with Tony was just the last straw in what they had all gone through since Morgan had been born. Peter did not understand why the world cared about him, or Morgan, or what their home looked like...which apparently was a huge bargaining chip according to Pepper. Tony had always had a very public side which everyone saw and then an incredibly private side that no one but those closest to him saw. Apparently letting a reporter and a video crew into the 'inner sanctum' was a big deal, even if it was just their living room.

He had been prepped for the last week. How to sit, how to respond to questions, what to do with his hands, the expressions on his face. It was easier training to fight super villains. He didn't know how Pepper handled all of this so naturally. But she did, and he knew this would go off perfectly because Pepper wouldn't allow anything else. He took a deep breath and pulled open his door to walk into the most uncomfortable situation he had been in...ever.


	80. Chapter 80 - Winter Break

Peter looked down at his phone when it buzzed and froze. The alert that came across was one he hadn't seen in a couple months. MJ.

_"Are you ok? I saw the article."_

Tony saw the look of abject terror on Peter's face. "What's wrong?"

Peter slid his phone across the lab table. "What do I do?"

Tony fought the grin that wanted to appear on his face. "What do you want to do?"

Peter stared at his phone. "It's MJ."

"Ok. That doesn't answer the question." Tony sat back in his chair and watched his son process the question.

Peter glanced up at his dad, eyes pleading for guidance. "It's MJ."

Tony crossed his arms. "You haven't talked to her in a couple months."

Peter frowned. Not talking to her wasn't by choice. "I know. And she just texted me."

"So text her back."

Yeah. Text her back. Seemed so simple. "It's not that easy. I don't know what she's expecting." Peter looked at his dad.

Tony sighed. "You're never going to know what she or any other female is expecting. Get used to it now. But, you need to figure out what you want. Once you know that it makes the rest of it easier."

Peter shook his head. "That's not helping."

"Ok." Tony decided to try a different tactic. "So Gwen. Was there anything there?"

Peter frowned. He hadn't expect the shift from MJ to Gwen. "We were friends. Are friends. I think."

"Could there have been something more than friendship?" Tony was pretty sure he knew the answer, he just wanted Peter to get there on his own.

Peter shrugged. "Maybe." He paused. "But MJ..."

"But MJ." Tony smiled. "If you want to figure out what MJ is expecting you have to start by talking to her." He slid Peter's phone back across the lab table. "I would start with answering her question."

Peter frowned but picked up his phone. After typing and backspacing and typing again he looked up when he heard Tony sigh. "What?"

"You're overthinking this. I know you're multiple steps out from sending a simple text in your head. Playing out different results. Normally, I'm right there with you, but in this case, you're 18. Just answer the question."

Peter sighed and backspaced everything he had just typed and started again.

_"I'm ok. Media circus was ridiculous. Had to do an interview with Dad, Pepper, and Morgan. First team up with Morgan...she did great as backup!"_ He hit send and felt a little better. Deciding to throw caution to the wind he added, _"How was your first semester at Princeton?"_

* * *

Pepper walked into the living room after putting Morgan down for a nap and looked over at Tony when she saw Peter laying on the sofa with his feet over the back, phone in hand. "What's he doing?"

Tony grinned. "Being a teenager. MJ texted him."

Pepper smiled. "How's it going?"

Tony shrugged. "He's struggling with not overthinking it."

"Did he ask if she wanted to go see Star Wars with him and Ned tonight?"

"Yes. She said no." That simple question and answer had caused an extraordinary amount of panic in Peter. Tony was enjoying being able to help talk his son through this. He thought he was actually doing pretty good so far.

"Good. I would have worried if she had said yes. She's always hated Star Wars."

Tony raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I would have thought her going with them was a good thing."

Pepper shook her head. "One of the things that makes MJ...well MJ, is that she knows who she is and she doesn't compromise. If she were to go see Star Wars with the boys then it means that she's doing something she doesn't want to do just to see Peter. Which sounds great but doesn't sound like MJ."

Tony shook his head. "That makes no sense."

Pepper leaned over and kissed Tony on the cheek. "Which is why you're lucky to have me and not the multitude of other options you had...they had no substance. Like me, MJ has substance."

* * *

Tony looked up from the tablet he was reading when Peter stepped off the elevator. "How was the movie?"

Peter walked over to the sofa and vaulted over the back to land next to Tony. "I don't know. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I might need to see it a couple more times."

Tony laughed. "You know, if we had done the press conference over the summer like I wanted, you and Ned could have gone to the premier instead."

Peter shook his head. "I officially do not like press or cameras."

"I hate to tell you kid, press and cameras are now officially part of your life." Tony laughed at the look of disgust on Peter's face. "I was thinking you and I could head to the compound for a couple days. What do you have planned?"

"Ned leaves tomorrow to visit family." Which meant he would have to convince someone else to go see Star Wars with him again. Maybe if they were at the compound he could either pick up Bobby or talk Bucky into going with him.

"How about MJ."

Peter frowned. "She's leaving to visit family too. Won't be back until after I leave to go back to school." Peter audibly sighed. "I wish she had gone to the movies with us."

"According to Pepper its a good thing that she didn't." Tony looked over at Peter. "Yeah, I don't understand it either. But when it comes to stuff like this, she know more than we do."

* * *

Tony pulled through the gate of the compound and made his way to the side entrance. Natasha, Steve, Bucky, and Sam walked outside as he pulled the car to a stop. The second Peter get out of the car, Natasha wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "We missed our youngest Avenger."

Peter grinned and hugged her back. "I missed you too."

Natasha let go of Peter and looked at Tony. "We thought we'd let you two get settled and then hit the training room." She glanced over at Peter. "We want to make sure you're not out of shape."

Peter grabbed his bag. "I'm not out of shape. I even went out as Spider-Man last night and didn't get hurt."

Steve looked at Tony and Peter. "How does that work? Don't people wonder why there are two of you?"

Peter shook his head. "I worked it out with Miles. He had family in town anyway. There's a lot to be said for the ability to cover for each other if anyone gets too close to knowing the truth."

"Good plan." Steve nodded his approval. He glanced over at Tony. "Tony, there's something you should know. We're hearing some reports that Ross and Ellis have had a falling out and that Ross is out as Secretary of State in January."

Peter looked from Steve to Tony and back to Steve. "You two don't look thrilled about that. I would have thought with as much as everyone dislikes Ross, you would be happy to see him out of power."

Natasha interjected. "In the position of Secretary of State we could keep tabs on him. On his own we won't be able to. And, he has a lot of contacts that he's made over the years."

Tony threw his duffel bag over his shoulder and started toward the elevator. Ross out as Secretary of State was big. He glanced behind him and saw Peter talking to Bucky and Sam, probably trying to convince them to go see Star Wars with him. He turned his attention to Natasha. "How sure is the intel?"

"Rhodey is in DC trying to confirm." She glanced back at Peter, verifying he was still distracted by Bucky and Sam. "I don't like it. We're working contacts trying to identify his network. Unrestrained by the office he could cause problems."

Tony walked into the elevator as it opened, FRIDAY holding it for Peter. "We'll meet you in the training room in 30 minutes." He thought through everything Natasha had said as Peter stood next to him on the ride up to their floor.

"You're worried."

Tony knew it was a statement and not a question. "Natasha has a handle on it. Let's just make sure your training isn't slipping."


	81. Chapter 81 - Playing With Fire

Peter leaned back on the sofa, PlayStation controller in hand. Bobby wouldn't be done with his make up final for another hour. Peter had finished both of his that morning. So far, none of his professors had made a big deal over the fact that he was Tony Stark's son. It was a relief. He just hoped it continued. Most of his group was already back in town so they had planned on heading to the Odyssey when Bobby was done. Peter just hoped they let him back in. He wasn't sure how great it was that they had gotten so much press. Hopefully it had been long enough that things had died down a little.

* * *

Peter looked at the clock on the wall. He had lost track of time playing online with Ned, Bucky, and Sam. Bobby should have been back almost an hour ago. Turning off the PlayStation he picked up his phone and sent Bobby a text.

_"Where are you?"_

A few minutes later a picture came through of a building completely engulfed in flames. _"The roads are blocked. Although I think they're about to start letting people through. I should be back soon."_

Peter looked at the picture. At home, he probably would have been in the middle of things. He had pulled people out of fires more than a couple times. After the first time, they had made his normal suits fireproof. Now, the Iron Spider was definitely fireproof. But, it would be weird if Spider-Man showed up in Boston, so until he could come up with a cover he was stuck more or less on the sidelines. And he hated it.

Curious, he started looking online about the fire. Turned out that it was only the latest in a series of fires. Some just chalked it up to cold weather and issues with space heaters or faulty heating systems. Others were starting to think they were deliberate. He was still reading through articles and had asked Karen to dig in when Bobby walked into the living room.

"Ok, that was a nightmare." Bobby threw himself on the other sofa.

Peter looked up from his tablet. "The final or the fire."

"Both. What are you doing?"

Peter put the tablet down on the sofa. "Reading about the fire...actually it's fires...plural...this was the forth one since mid December that they think may actually be arson."

Bobby frowned. "That's not good. The building today was an apartment building. Luckily most of the people who live there are students and aren't back yet. Do they have any suspects?"

Peter shook his head. "No." He followed it with a sigh. "I wish there was a way that I could be Spider-Man here without blowing my identity."

Bobby furrowed his brows. "So you can swing into a burning building? You know they have fire fighters trained just for that type of situation."

"Yeah, but most fire fighters don't have super strength, enhanced senses, and the ability to heal. If I go in, they don't have to."

Bobby shook his head. "You're an adrenaline junkie. I've seen some of the stuff you do." He looked down at the pictures on the tablet. "But, you have a point. Any idea what to do about it?"

Peter frowned and shook his head. "Not yet." Reaching down he turned off the tablet. "Let's head out. I'm starving."

* * *

Peter trailed Bobby into The Odyssey. He wasn't sure what to expect. He had texted Gwen a couple times over the break and she had always still seemed a little mad. He hadn't talked to Wyatt or Johnny at all. Bobby kept telling him that absolutely no one cared that he was Tony Stark's son. He hoped he was right. He saw the table Bobby was headed for and realized it was just Wyatt and Johnny. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or not that Gwen wasn't there yet.

Wyatt grinned up at him. "Sit down Parker. As retribution for not looping us in you're buying tonight."

Peter dropped into a chair. "That I can do." He glanced over at Johnny who didn't seem phased at all.

"Parker, you need to work on your interview skills. Sue said she could tell you had been prepped." Johnny took a sip of his beer. "I, on the other hand, thought you actually did a good job for it being your first major interview."

Peter groaned. "You mean people actually watched that?" He still did not understand why people would be interested in the lives of others. He could somewhat understand if it had been something about the Avengers. Idolizing hero's was one thing. He understood why people wanted to take pictures with Spider-Man and was more than happy to accommodate. The fascination with his home life was something totally different.

"Sue loves stuff like that so I was watching it simply because she had it on. When she and Reed got married the press was everywhere. It sucked at first but you do get used to it." Johnny leaned an elbow on the table. "And, most of the professors are pretty cool about it. I think only one or two have even made comments about my sister or brother-in-law." He shrugged, "So, don't stress about it." Johnny flicked the flame of the little Sterno can on the table that had been lit to keep their pizza warm.

Relief flowed through Peter. He hadn't expected this much understanding and support. He still wasn't comfortable with it though. He grabbed a piece of pizza and took a bite.

* * *

"You know you could have told us who you were." Gwen sat down across from Peter. The Odyssey had filled up a little and Gwen had filtered in after the boys had demolished two extra large pizzas.

Peter shrugged. "I know but I wanted people to see me and not my dad. Especially here. I mean, he's on a first name basis with most of the professors and has dinner with the dean every couple months."

Gwen shook her head. "I get the general public but not your friends."

Peter studied Gwen. Keeping secrets was something he had done for so long now he wasn't sure he knew how not to keep things in their separate compartments even though time and time again his friends were nothing but supportive. Keeping his relationship with Tony secret had been a natural reaction after keeping so many other things secret. "Did you enjoy not being able to leave your apartment? Or being compared to the types of girls my dad used to 'date'?"

Gwen shrugged. "It was mildly inconvenient and I've been called worse. I was more bothered by the idea that you didn't trust me."

Peter looked down at his lemonade. Trust was an incredibly complicated thing. Trusting people for him, even if it was just about who his dad was, meant potentially putting their lives at risk. MJ and Ned finding out about Spider-Man had been inevitable. He just spent too much time with them in high school. Plus, thinking back, he wasn't great at keeping secrets back then. He wasn't sure how the entire school hadn't known. Part of him still felt that letting go of the secret of who his dad was meant that Spider-Man's identity wouldn't be too far behind. And he didn't know how he felt about that.

He had been threatened too many times over the years by the common criminals he fought. Usually they would pop out with 'when I find out who you are, I'll kill you and everyone you care about'. He knew most of them couldn't actually follow through with it, but there were some that could. And that meant limiting the number of people who knew his secrets. He looked up and met Gwen's eyes. "It's not that I don't trust you. I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

Gwen shook her head and stood up. "How is knowing that your dad is Tony Stark going to hurt me?" She left Peter at the table by himself and walked over to a group currently playing pool. Peter sighed and looked around. For the most part it was familiar faces. A few new ones peppered the crowd. Finishing his lemonade he stood up and walked over to the group. Even though he never played it was fun to watch. Gwen was still the best pool player by far and it looked like she was starting to give everyone a run for their money. Leaning against the wall he watched her drop ball after ball. His dad had asked him if there had been anything there. There probably could be...but MJ.

He and MJ were in a better place than they were at the beginning of the summer but they were no where near where they had been. He wasn't sure if they'd ever get back to where they had been, but then again, with each passing day, neither one of them was the same person they were in high school.

"It is too early for you to be that deep inside your head."

Peter looked over at Bobby who had come over and leaned against the wall next to him. "Sorry."

"I think Johnny and Wyatt are heading out in a few minutes. I told Gwen I'd let her beat me in a game before we left. Is that ok?" Bobby looked between Gwen and Peter. He knew about MJ and he had a feeling that Gwen had a thing for Peter. And, he suspected that if MJ weren't in the picture again Peter might have a thing for Gwen too.

"Yeah, that's fine." Peter watched the rest of the current game and then started to watch Gwen and Bobby, until he heard sirens. They were far enough away that he knew no one else around him could hear them. He had told Karen to alert him if there was another fire and felt a gentle buzz on his wrist. Tapping the face of his watch he displayed a map Karen had marked where the position of the current fire. This one looked like an building.

Bobby stood in front of him. Gwen had solidly defeated him. He was beginning to think that Peter should play her just to give her a little bit of a challenge. He stopped short of mentioning it when he saw the look on Peter's face. "What?"

"Are you ready to head out?" Peter glanced up, brain already cycling through options.

"Yeah, what's wrong." Bobby glanced towards the door as the sirens finally came within reach of normal hearing.

"That's what's wrong. We'll have to drive that way to get home anyway." Peter pulled his keys out of his pocket. He glanced over at Gwen who had just started another game of pool. "Gwen, we're heading out. Maybe see you tomorrow?"

"Whatever Parker." Gwen glanced up at him over the pool cue and made the shot without checking it.

Bobby pulled Peter towards the door. Once outside he shook his head. "You know she likes you, right?"

Peter frowned as he walked towards his car. "What? No, I'm pretty sure I'm her least favorite friend."

"How did you date MJ as long as you did? You are absolutely clueless." Bobby pulled open the passenger door. Deciding that Peter did not need the extra confusion he switched subjects. "Karen find anything about the fire?"

Peter started the car. "Yeah, we have to drive that way to get home anyway so we can do some looking on the way." He pulled out onto the street and headed towards the fire. "If this is the same thing, two fires in one day is not good."

Peter pulled into a parking lot a half a block away from the fire. He wasn't the only one so it didn't look overly suspicious. The fire trucks were blocking the street so the only choice people had were to park and wait or navigate through Cambridge to get to their destination. He could see well enough to see what was going on.

"What are we looking for?" Bobby asked from the passenger seat. Ever since his mutation had been triggered he had the ability to differentiate heat signatures. The heat the fire put out was almost overpowering but not unexpected after witnessing the one from this afternoon.

"I have no idea." Peter scanned the building to see if he could detect anyone that was trapped. He already knew that if he had to, he wouldn't think twice about going in after someone. He could deal with the fall out later. Satisfied that the building was empty he started scanning the crowd.

"Huh."

Peter turned to look at Bobby. "What?"

"Someone in the crowd has a heat signature that's way higher than a normal person." Bobby squinted. He could detect the signature but he couldn't actually see who or what it was.

Peter activated the Iron Spider mask. "Karen, scan thermal signatures."

"The fire is making it hard to differentiate signatures. Sorry Peter."

Peter deactivated the mask. "Can you figure out who it is?"

Bobby shook his head. "No, and it's gone now." He looked over at Peter. "That was weird. It was like someone's entire body was on fire but they weren't."


	82. Chapter 82 - Fire and Ice

Peter rolled over in bed and looked at his phone. He smiled at the video of Morgan that Pepper had texted him. She had been walking at Christmas but walking was was a term that was being used very loosely. More like stumbling from hand hold to hand hold. But now, she was moving at full speed. The accompanying message also made Peter smile. _"I'm about to use your web shooters and web her to the breakfast table."_

_"Just don't use the tactical ones! Tell Morgan her brother said to settle down and eat her breakfast."_

Peter rolled over and started to put his phone back on his nightstand and paused. Rolling back over he pulled up a new message.

_"Hey! Make it back to school yet?"_

He cringed a little and dropped his phone on his nightstand. As a distraction he thought through the events of last night. He and Bobby had stayed near the fire until it had gotten under control. Bobby hadn't spotted the heat signature again. Peter wasn't sure what to do next. Sighing he got up, fought the urge to check his phone, and headed downstairs to find something to eat. He noticed Bobby sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop. Grabbing the cereal, a bowl, and milk he sat down next to him. "What are you working on?"

"I messaged Scott to see if he knew anything about fire mutants." Bobby frowned at his computer.

"Fire mutants?" Peter shoveled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

Bobby shrugged. "I don't know what else to call it. He's checking with Professor X to see if he has anyone on his radar that fits the description."

Peter continued eating, thinking through the implications of a mutant being involved. "Doesn't Professor X have a way of locating people with a mutant gene?"

Bobby shook his head. "After your dad reached out he figured out something to detect the Terrigen. Apparently it emits an odd signature that he's able to detect easier than most. He's working on expanding it for other mutant genes but it's not 100% reliable yet. The data set just isn't big enough. I mean my mutation is from latent terrigen but it's genetic. Your mutations were caused by some weird serum and a type of gamma radiation. The Hulk's mutation is due to gamma exposure but not the same type as yours. Scott's mutation is genetic but not tied to terrigen. It's kinda hard to nail them all down."

Peter grinned. "So what you're saying is that there's probably more mutants and enhanced individuals out there than anyone realizes."

Bobby nodded. "Exactly. What I saw last night was not a run of the mill person. What I can't figure out is if they always put off that much of a heat signature and I just lost them or if they can turn it off." He looked over at Peter. "Either way I think it's like looking for a needle in a haystack." He sat back in his chair. "Oh, Wyatt texted and asked if we wanted to come over to their place. Something about 'classes start in a couple days and they want to grill out'"

"Wyatt does realize it's January in Boston, right?"

Bobby shrugged. "I think Johnny has spent too much time in California. So do you want to go? They said head over around 2pm."

"Sure. They're in the same apartment they were in before, right?" Peter finished his cereal and took the bowl to the dishwasher.

"Yeah. We passed it last night on our way back." Bobby stood up. "Want to go spar? Jean and Scott were both pretty impressed at how much better I had gotten."

Peter smiled and nodded. Sparing with Bobby was actually kind of fun. He still absolutely hated to hit anything with his fist but Bobby was almost indestructible in his ice form so it took some of the worry out of training. Even when he sparred with Natasha, who could dodge anything he did, or Steve, who could take anything he did, he was still worried about accidentally hurting them. With Bobby he could actually fight. Plus, it made him feel good to be able to help Bobby improve his physical abilities.

* * *

Peter shook his curls our after running a towel over his head. He and Bobby had spent more time in the gym than they had intended and now they were having to rush. Throwing on jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie he fastened his watch on his wrist, freezing when he saw '1 new message' from a couple hours ago. Grabbing his phone he pulled up the message from MJ.

_"Got here this afternoon. Classes start in a couple days. I'm glad we're talking again."_

He stared at his phone. How in the hell was he supposed to respond to that? Chewing on his bottom lip, he debated and finally settled on _"Me too."_ He threw his phone down in frustration. He probably should have said more but he wasn't sure what. Shoving it in another compartment of his brain he finished getting ready.

Finished in record time, he grabbed his phone off the bed, and ran down the stairs, meeting Bobby by the garage. Wyatt and Johnny's apartment was only ten minutes away and thankfully there hadn't been any additional fires today contributing to traffic.

Wyatt pulled the door open after one knock. "Come on in guys." Pulling the door shut behind them he gestured for them to head towards the living room. For an apartment it wasn't too terribly cramped although it did make Peter incredibly thankful his dad had insisted on a house.

"Wyatt, I'm just curious how you're planning to grill in 30 degree weather." Peter slid out of his jacket. Cold was still an issue. He had tried to figure out how to put the same heater in his clothes that was in his Spider-Man suit but finally gave up on it. It just wasn't practical. Which meant he dressed in layers...lots of layers.

Wyatt just shrugged. "Johnny has it worked out. He really wanted steaks so we thought we invite the two of you."

Johnny came down the hallway. "Yeah, we thought a change of pace from the Odyssey might be good. Sue got onto us over the break for having a diet of only bar food so we told her we'd try to eat actual food at least once a week."

Peter laughed. "Yeah, so far I've been able to hide that fact from Pepper. She would fully support eating actual food."

The four boys fell into comfortable conversation about what they did over Winter Break, although Peter's was highly edited to leave out the weekend with the Avengers. They morphed into upcoming classes. They had strategically tried to schedule a couple classes together after finding out they actually studied well together.

"Hey, did you all see that fire last night on the way home?" Wyatt had pulled out a box of dominoes after figuring out that all of them had played before.

"Yeah, it looked bad. Second one of the day. Bobby got stuck in traffic earlier because of another one." Peter paused and didn't launch into his theory that it was arson or the fact that he and Bobby hadn't just seen the fire but had staked it out as well. And he certainly didn't mention the fire mutant.

Johnny dumped the dominoes out and started flipping them over. "Yeah, space heaters and bad heating systems are always a problem this time of year."

* * *

Dominoes was an addictive game. Peter had played before at the compound. Playing with the Avengers was a little cutthroat at times. Playing with Wyatt, Johnny, and Bobby was no less competitive. They were several rounds in when Johnny announced that he was going to start the grill and give it a chance to heat up. They all took the opportunity to refill drinks. On his way back from the kitchen, Peter looked out on the deck where the grill was. They actually had a pretty good view of the river. Peter had to get on the roof of the house to actually see anything. Behind high up was something he really missed. So far he hadn't found anywhere in Boston he could access without being seen. He watched Johnny play with the lighter on the charcoals, flames bursting high then settling into a low burn.

* * *

Dinner and dominoes was a lot of fun. It was fairly late when Peter and Bobby headed home. Peter was glad Wyatt had texted them earlier. They could all see it becoming a normal Sunday night thing. Classes were starting Wednesday but they didn't have a lot to do other than make sure they had their books. Which gave Peter and Bobby some extra time to devote to investigating the fires. Karen hacked into the police and fire department files and discovered that both departments were convinced that it was the work of an arsonist but they hadn't figured out how they were doing it. Peter and Bobby thought the fire mutant probably had the ability to set fires without the need of any kind of lighter fluid. The problem was, they hadn't been able to detect the heat signature again and that left them with not knowing what their next step should be.


	83. Chapter 83 - Fighting Fire With Fire

Classes started and Peter and Bobby were no closer to finding a suspect. Scott had gotten back to them to let them know that Professor X did have a record of a mutant that matched the description and may or may not be going by the name Firebrand. It was really more of a rumor of a possibility and not much to go on. Another fire had broken out the night before classes started a few blocks from Johnny and Wyatt's apartment. Unfortunately, Peter and Bobby were on campus at the time and couldn't make it back before the fire had been put out and there was no sign of their mysterious mutant.

It wasn't until Friday that everyone's schedules let them make it out to the Odyssey. Peter and his group were considered fixtures at this point, with their own table. No one dared try to take Gwen's pool table so they were back in the comfortable rhythm of eating and watching each other get destroyed at pool by Gwen.

"Hey, isn't that one of the boys from Biology?" Peter nudged Wyatt towards the direction of the door.

"Yeah...David, Davis? Something like that. He's Australian." Wyatt and Peter raised their hands and waved him over.

"Aren't you in our Bio class?" Peter asked as the boy made it over to their table.

"Yeah. Davis Cameron."

Wyatt pushed a chair out with his foot. "Have a seat. This is Peter and I'm Wyatt." He glanced around, "The two getting beat at pool by the blond are Johnny and Bobby. And, the blond, that's Gwen."

Davis sat down. "She was in one of my classes last semester. I'm not surprised she's good at pool too."

Peter leaned back in his chair. "Australian?"

David nodded and took a sip of his drink. "I came over at the beginning of last semester."

"That's a long way from home. What made you decide to come?" Peter was genuinely curious. He couldn't imagine being that far from his family.

Davis shrugged. "I got in." He added a smile. "And it was a long way from home."

Wyatt laughed. "I get it. I'm from Oklahoma...not quite as far but far enough. Peter's only four hours from home so he doesn't get it."

Davis nodded and took another sip. "Gwen mentioned this place a couple times last year. Thought I'd break down and check it out."

Peter grinned. "We like it." Peter took a bite of pizza and offered a slice to Davis. "So what other classes do you have?"

Gwen and Bobby worked their way over to the table and sat down on the tail end of the schedule comparison between Davis, Wyatt, and Peter. They actually had a couple labs together as well. Wyatt looked over at Gwen. "What did you do with Johnny?"

She nodded her head towards a group. "He's flirting with some redhead." The comment caused almost all of them to roll their eyes. And none of them missed the fact that he left with her thirty minutes later. Wyatt looked over at Peter and Bobby, "So you're giving me a ride home, right."

Peter pulled out of his parking space into traffic and made his way in the direction of Wyatt and Johnny's apartment. His Spidey sense started tingling as soon as he turned down the street their apartment was on.

"Is that smoke?" Bobby peered out the window, dread settling in his stomach.

Peter pulled over far enough back and parked. He got out and headed toward the apartment building. Wyatt and Johnny's apartment building. He realized when he reached the entrance that Bobby and Wyatt were both behind him. Wyatt was on his cell with 911 reporting the fire. Peter pulled open the door and started looking for a fire extinguisher and alarm. Finding it he pulled the alarm and smashed the glass, yanking the extinguisher free. "Wyatt, start banging on doors." He handed the extinguisher to Wyatt and turned to start up the stairs but paused long enough to toss his keys to as well. "Just work on getting everyone out. We'll check the upper floors."

Bobby followed Peter up the stairs, willing to follow his lead. People were starting to respond to the alarm and were filling the halls and stairwells. Bobby followed Peter through the flow of panicked bodies up another floor. They both knew there were a total of six floors in the building because they had been on the top floor less than a week ago. The smoke started getting thicker as they approached the 4th floor. Peter looked around to make sure he was clear and triggered the Iron Spider suit. The mask started filtering the smoke making it easier to breath. He saw Bobby was in his ice form as well. He just hoped they didn't terrify anyone running from the fire. "Karen, scan to see if there's anyone still on this floor."

"Scan negative. Peter, as the heat of the fire intensifies my scans will become less efficient."

"I know, just keep scanning and let me know when I need to take over." He glanced back at Bobby who was starting to work on the flames that were licking down the wall. "Up". He started up the stairs, Bobby behind him.

"Peter, scans are picking up a heat signature on the 5th floor. No additional signs. My scanners are starting to be less reliant though."

Peter tensed and bolted up the stairs. Alighting at the top he saw a figure, a figure he recognized, at the end of the hall, flames streaming off the walls onto his arms.

"Johnny, stop! What are you doing?" Peter covered the distance between himself and Johnny and spun him around. "Why would you do this?"

Johnny tilted his head and looked at Spider-Man, recognizing the voice. "Peter? What the hell?" He looked down the hall at Bobby. "Bobby?"

Bobby reaches the duo, firing streams of water at the flames as he went. He could definitely manipulate ice better but ultimately it was all water. The problem was, the fire was eating up a lot of the oxygen which meant there wasn't enough to actually pull much water out. "Johnny, what the hell are you doing?"

Johnny looked between the two and he realized what they both meant. "How could you possibly think I was the arsonist?" Johnny asked incredulously.

"Because you're always playing with matches and lighters. And now this...". Peter fired back, gesturing at the flames on his arms.

"Because I'm the Human Torch. I'm literally fire. I'm trying to stop it!" Johnny stood in front of Peter, flames flickering off his arms.

"Well that makes a whole lot more sense now. But I didn't know that did I?" Peter ducked as a piece of debris fell from the ceiling.

"Well, you do now...Spider-Man." Johnny said pointedly as he pulled a stream of fire away from Peter and Bobby.

"Can we talk about our alter egos after we get out of here?" Bobby was doing his best to pull enough water out of the air to combat the fire but it was being consumed rapidly. "Do you think everyone's out? I'm not sure we're doing much good."

Peter tilted his head to listen for sounds other than the cracking of wood. "I don't hear anyone else but I'd feel better if I checked upstairs first." Knowing that Bobby was going to quickly lose his ice form if he stayed in the fire much longer he added, "Head back down to Wyatt and make sure he got everyone out." Peter darted towards the tumbling stairs. He was startled to see Johnny flying next to him. "Ok, that's pretty cool." Peter landed in the hallway on the top floor. He paused long enough to focus. "Hang on, I hear something." He could hear a faint heartbeat. Following the sound he yanked a door off its hinges, smoke billowing around him.

Johnny stood behind him, coercing the flames to create a path Peter could travel through. Peter followed the heartbeat until he found an unconscious girl on the floor in the bathroom. Scooping her up he turned to head out, noting that Johnny was pulling flames away from him. "Go. Make sure Bobby and Wyatt got out. I'll take her out the window."

They could both hear sirens coming from outside now and knew fire and police would be on the street. Johnny hesitated at the door. "They'll see you."

"I'll figure it out. Just make sure Bobby and Wyatt are ok. Head to our house. I'll meet you there." Peter waited until he was sure Johnny was leaving and kicked the remains of a window out and scoped out his options to secure a web. Finding a high spot he flung a web and propelled himself out of the burning building holding the girl securely at his side. He landed a short distance from the first ambulance he saw.

"Hey, you're Spider-Man!" One of the paramedics rushed towards him to help him with the girl.

"Yeah. Visiting a friend for the weekend. Thought I'd give you a hand. The top two floors are clear." He truly wasn't sure about the rest of them. He had hoped Wyatt had been able to get everyone else out. Several police and firefighters made their way over. Peter didn't want to risk any kind of confrontation so he flung a web and pulled himself up. "Take care of her and be careful!" He swung his way down the street and headed for the closest roof he thought he could land on unseen.

Crouched on the roof he could still see the fire but it looked like they were getting it under control. "Karen, scan for heat signatures, wide scan." He had tweaked her scanning abilities after she hadn't been able to pick up the same signature Bobby had and thought he had it pretty well dialed in. A figured appeared on the outskirts of his HUD, seconds away from being out of range.

"Peter, there is no path you can take that would allow you to intercept."

Peter sighed. "I know. Run a search of the area and see if anything jumps out. And, do I have any options to actually swing home or am I stuck walking?" A path illuminated on his HUD that got him within about a block of the house. It was better than nothing. "Get a status update from Bobby and can you turn up my heater?"


	84. Chapter 84 - In The Line Of Fire

"Dad, I'm fine." Peter paused then added, "Your fine, not my fine."

"Pete, it's in the 20's and you're out of the suit." Tony scrubbed his hand over his face as he reviewed the data from the Iron Spider.

"I'm literally a half a block from the house. Can you check media reports and scrub everything you can on both Miles and me from tonight?" Peter didn't think anyone had taken a picture of him but he didn't want to expose either of them. The only way he knew to do that was to erase everything so neither one of them showed up anywhere.

"FRIDAY's already working on it." Tony had the news reports from the fire pulled up. Multiple reports mentioned the possibility of arson. "You want to tell me if your going into the fire was just you being Spider-Man and helping people or if you were actually looking for the arsonist."

Peter grimaced. "Both." Since his dad now knew about it, he might as well get a little help. "If I send you some information do you think FRIDAY can do a little digging?" He didn't want to mention that it was a mutant involved out in the open.

"Karen isn't helping?" Karen had the horsepower to do most research, if Peter was asking for FRIDAY's help, Tony wondered if Karen's systems were malfunctioning.

"It's outside her expertise. You'll understand when I send it to you." It was frustrating not being able to just tell his dad what was going on but he didn't have a option right now. "Dad, I'll call you in the morning. I'm 10 steps from the front door."

Tony growled. "Fine. Call me in the morning. I love you Pete."

"Love you too dad." Peter disconnected the call and pushed the front door open. Bobby, Johnny, and Wyatt were on the sofas in the living room. Shutting the front door behind him he took a deep breath. "Hey guys."

Johnny stood up. "Spider-Man." His tone eased a little. "Did you get her out ok?"

Peter nodded. "So the Human Torch? How do you not burn everything down?"

Johnny sighed and lit himself up. "I can control what it does." Johnny shrugged, "Doesn't mean I haven't had the occasional mishaps."

Wyatt sighed. "Mishaps as in set the curtains on fire...which is why we don't have any...well, didn't. I guess everything is ash now."

"We have extra bedrooms. Consider yourselves our new roommates." Peter glanced over at Johnny again who had retaken his normal form. "Assuming you want to."

Wyatt stood up. "I told Johnny that being mad because you thought he was the arsonist was ridiculous. He'll get over it. So, yes, we would very much appreciate a place to stay." He looked at Peter. "Bobby already showed us his ice form and everyone else has seen the suit...my turn."

Peter sighed and triggered the Iron Spider.

"Cool. Is it nanotechnology like Iron Man's?" Wyatt studied the suit, marveling at the technology.

Peter nodded and retracted the suit. "I have other suits but once we fixed the flexibility in this one, it's way more convenient."

Johnny crossed his arms and looked at Peter. "So are all of the abilities from technology?"

Peter sighed again, hoping the line of questioning wasn't headed back to asking if he laid eggs. He flipped, landed on the wall, crawled up to the ceiling and walked across it. "No." Tucking he flipped back to the ground and landed in front of Johnny. "I'm sorry I thought you were the arsonist."

"Apology accepted." Johnny smiled. "And, that's pretty cool."

The four spent the next several hours discussing their abilities as well as their theories on the arsonist. It was almost 3am before they were attempting to get Johnny and Wyatt settled in the extra bedrooms. Everyone but Peter was resigned to the idea of sleeping most of the next day. Peter was up and on the phone with Tony by 8am.

"Did you get the data I sent last night?" Peter was standing downstairs in the kitchen pouring a bowl of cereal.

"Yeah, Charles gave me access to his information so I had FRIDAY do a little more digging. Firebrand is a female. No name that we've found so far. I'm sending some pictures your way. In addition to what Charles had, FRIDAY pulled traffic and security camera. She's in Boston." Tony hadn't gone to bed yet. He had been up since he had talked to Peter last night. It had been a while since he had pulled an all nighter. He now felt every year of his age.

Peter swallowed his cereal. "Any idea why she's doing it?"

"None." Tony took a sip of his coffee. "I'm also sending you everything Charles has on how to potentially fight an elemental which is what he thinks this is." Tony paused, "You know, I could come down there for a couple days..."

"Dad, it's under control. I will call for help if I need it. I don't think I do though." As much as Peter missed seeing his dad every day, he knew the offer wasn't from Tony...it was from Iron Man. Neither Iron Man nor Tony knew how operate under the radar and Iron Man tended to be a little loud...and destructive. Neither would contribute to keeping Spider-Man out of the news. "If you come across anything else let me know."

Tony sighed. He knew that was going to be Peter's answer when he offered. And, he knew Pete could probably handle it by himself. And, somewhere deep down Tony knew he had to let Pete handle it by himself. He just didn't like it. "Ok. I want updates though."

"Ok. Give Morgan a hug for me. Love you dad." Peter hung up and reviewed the information his dad had sent. He could talk to Johnny about ideas to combat a fire mutant. An elemental was what Professor Xavier was calling it. Either way, fire burned through his current webbing so he started working through formula ideas to make the webbing fire resistant. Which is what the three other boys found him doing five hours later.

"How long have you been up?" Wyatt asked incredulously, looking at the scraps of paper scattered on the table.

Peter didn't look up from his notebook. He thought he was maybe 75% there on a formula. He just needed to start testing it. "A little before 8am." He glanced up and shrugged, "Spiders don't need as much sleep."

Johnny just shook his head. "So what does a Spider accomplish in five hours."

Peter flipped the hologram up on his tablet. "Here's our arsonist. Professor X is calling her an elemental." He looked over at Johnny, "You're going to need to make some educated guesses on ability as well as how to stop her."

Johnny sat down next to Peter and started reading through the information. Once finished he shrugged, "A lot of it is correct. Some isn't." He glanced around at the group around him. To tell them how to defeat her he'd essentially have to tell them how to defeat him. He looked down at Peter's papers and recognized enough of it to realize Peter was working on fire resistant webbing. He gestured to the papers. "That's a start. Containment is going to be hard."

Peter studied Johnny. He was guessing that his hesitance was due to trust which he understood. "Ok, we can keep working on it. Meanwhile, we can order food and Bobby and I can show you the rest of the house."

Orders placed, they walked them down the gym which really was the back section of the house. The house itself was three stories and originally contained a couple rooms on all three floors that were no longer there. Instead, Tony had created a gym area tall enough that Peter could swing at least a little. It was also full of equipment that was Peter-proof...meaning the equipment could withstand Peter at full strength and speed. Johnny's and Wyatt's jaws dropped when Peter pushed open the doors. Peter just shrugged. "I'm used to swinging every day. I had to have a way to burn off some energy if I can't go out as Spider-Man."

Bobby smiled at the two the were still gaping at the room. "And I get the benefit of the fact that he's trained with Black Widow and Captain America."

xxxxxxxxxx

* * *

Instead of Sunday dinner at Wyatt's and Johnny's, it was now Sunday dinner at the house. The week started without incident and FRIDAY and Karen had continued to feed them information on when and where their target was spotted via surveillance cameras. The nice thing about being so close to campus was that there were cameras everywhere.

Wyatt had plotted all of the fires on a map. They were in all contained within eight square blocks. There wasn't really a pattern other than the cluster. Peter had alerts set up to go to his watch in the event that a surveillance camera picked up their target or a fire broke out. So far they had always been too far away when she had been spotted.

Wednesday, they made it into the Odyssey joined by Gwen, Davis, and a couple others from school. Peter had been able to test his web fluid in Chem lab and while he didn't think it was 100%, he thought it would work. They were a couple hours into the night when Peter's watch buzzed. They had all been with him when it had gone off previously so they all knew what it meant. He glanced down at it, hoping not to draw attention to it and saw the map pinpoint an area less than a block away. He glanced up at Bobby, Johnny, and Wyatt before standing up. Making his way towards the back he hoped that DavIs and Gwen assumed he was just going to the restroom. Ducking through the back door he triggered the Iron Spider suit and scampered up the wall. Landing on the roof he didn't overlook the fact that Johnny landed next to him, glowing a subdued fiery orange.

"It's as covert as I can get."

Peter shook his head. "Gwen and Davis are going to be suspicious."

Johnny shook his head. "Wyatt challenged Gwen to a game. Have Karen text him if we need him. Bobby is going to meet us once we figure out where we're going."

Peter rolled his eyes and was glad he was covered by the Iron Spider. Having team mates now was a little different than having Avengers as your team. He hadn't really thought that through until now. Shoving it into another part of his brain, he started scanning for a heat signature. "Flame off for a minute. You're messing with the sensors." Shove that one into the fix it later box. The fiery glow diminished next to him. A few moments later he saw a heat signature. "Got her." At least he hoped it was her and not a third fire mutant. At this point nothing would surprise him. Maybe Davis or Gwen had powers.

Karen plotted an intercept path for himself and Johnny, minimizing the chance that a casual bystander might accidentally see them. He had Karen text Bobby the location knowing he could meet them on the ground. He could form ice waves and travel faster but it was hardly covert.

A few minutes later they were standing in an alley. Peter quietly pulled open the door and entered, flanked by the Human Torch and Iceman. "Karen, scan building."

This building only had two floors so it was easy to pinpoint their target. She had started lighting up boxes in the storage room in the back. Fire was licking off her fingers onto the cardboard, instantly lighting them on fire. They hadn't entirely known what to expect so they had multiple options for plans. Peter fires taser webs hoping they would shut her down quickly. They didn't. The energy was absorbed by her skin and in turn increased the flame coming off her fingers. "Ok, so no tasers."

Firebrand turned to face the trio. Her eyes glowed a soft reddish orange, black hair whipping away from her face. She let lose a blast a fire toward the group which Johnny effortlessly absorbed and allowed Bobby to douse her with a barrage of ice that doused the fire briefly but then turned to steam as she lit her arms back up. It was enough of a distraction for Peter to fire off a round of fire resistant webs. They impeded her but not enough. Instead of continuing the fight she pushed through the boxes and ran through the front of the building, crashing through the glass and onto the street. She had lit enough on fire that Bobby stayed to douse the flames while Peter and Johnny followed. When they made it to the front of the building Peter could see her heat signature fading as she ran, blending in with the innocent bystanders. He put a hand out to stop Johnny from following.

"We lost her and there too many people out there. Out the back." The two retreated and met up with Bobby who was putting out the last of the flames. "Karen, verify there aren't any recording devices." They could evaluate the op and analyze what they could do differently back at the house.

"You're clear Peter."

xxxxxxxxxx

* * *

Firebrand made her way into the abandoned warehouse she had called home the last couple weeks. She hadn't expected three of them. Their combined power could have taken her down. Running had been her only option. She slid off her jacket and threw it over the back of a chair. She wasn't surprised to see him sitting on the makeshift sofa...waiting for her. "You didn't tell me there were three of them."

"The Spider has friends. Your failure earned us a valuable piece of information."

She watched him stand up. He never stayed long. Just long enough to provide targets or information.

"You need to stand down." He issued the order in a tone that he knew she could not mistake.

"No!" She protested. She could do this. She was worthy. She had to be.

"Stand down until you hear from me. You'll have your chance. I promise."


	85. Chapter 85 - Into The Slipstream, part 1

The op breakdown wasn't as horrible as Peter thought it would be. Bobby, Johnny, and Wyatt actually seemed to enjoy it which surprised Peter. He still hated doing them and now he was leading it. He couldn't quite figure out how that transition had happened. It turned out that while there was no video of the three, there had been some reports from people saying they saw Spider-Man and someone on fire. The reports weren't necessarily believed without visual evidence but it was enough to make Peter nervous.

Peter also couldn't figure out how he had become the training coordinator. Bobby had always loved getting in the gym with Peter. It didn't matter if it was running on the treadmill, lifting weights, or sparring. He saw it as a chance to get better.

Peter quickly discovered that Wyatt was an expert at hand to hand combat. He knew a dozen different martial arts as well as the ones that were inherent to his tribe in Oklahoma. Peter turned him loose on Johnny and Bobby when it was clear that Wyatt knew way more than Peter did. In the back of Peter's head he really wanted to see Wyatt spar with Natasha. Clint was the only one that came close to being able to match her and that was just because he had known her for so long. She still outclassed him. Peter thought Wyatt might actually be able to give Nat some competition.

Johnny didn't love the gym. It took Peter a couple days to figure it out. He finally realized that the only reason Johnny was agreeing to train in the gym was because Johnny knew it helped solidify them as a team and gain the trust they would need if they had to face anyone again. It was a humbling moment for Peter when he realized he was leading his own team which of course turned immediately into mild panic.

Firebrand wasn't seen after their confrontation and there were no more fires. Peter wondered if somehow they had scared her off. The whole situation bothered him but it was rapidly pushed into the back of his brain as school took over. He thought they were all feeling the same unease which is why they didn't stop training together. But study sessions quickly replaced the research on fire mutants.

Biology was the challenging class of the semester. Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering were all classes that Peter could sleep through and still ace...they were just intuitive for him. Biology he actually had to crack open and book and study for the tests in order to maintain his A. Thus was born a weekly study session before the afternoon class that included Davis.

Wyatt and Bobby were not in the dreaded Biology class that plagued Johnny, Peter, and Davis but since the study session was at the house they had to endure the misery that the other three faced every week over a weekly quiz. They generally retreated to one of the upstairs bedrooms and either watched tv or played video games until the other three decided they had enough and leave for campus. Then everyone would meet at the Odyssey to try to forget about the quiz they had just taken.

Peter was flipping through flash cards quizzing the other two when he heard Bobby from upstairs. "Peter, turn on the tv."

Frowning Peter grabbed the remote. He was about to ask what channel when a shot of Iron Man filled the screen. Panic seeped through him as he watched his dad fire his repulsors.

_"The sky of New York is once again filled with the Avengers battling what seems like a multitude of creatures, although it doesn't seem to be a coordinated attack. We're getting reports that one of the prisons used to hold the likes of Abomination, aliens from the Chitauri invasion, and other villains the Avengers have kept us safe from, suffered a containment loss resulting in all of its prisoners being set free."_

Peter was on his feet. He was four hours away. Quinjet could get here and back in less than 2 hours. It would be over by then. Another image flashed across the screen of Bucky firing at an alien while engaged in hand to hand with someone he didn't know.

"Peter, there's nothing you can do. You can't get there in time." Peter felt Bobby's hand squeeze his shoulder.

"I can get you there."

The four looked at Davis in confusion.

"I can get you there." He looked over at Bobby, "We have some mutual friends. They were the ones that got me out of Australia." He looked back at Peter. "I can form something similar to a wormhole. I call them slipstreams. I can get you there."

Peter activated the Iron Spider suit. He knew he was risking a lot on someone he knew nothing about but these were his friends, his family, his dad. "Get me there." He looked over at Johnny and Bobby who had assumed their forms. "This isn't your fight. You don't have to go."

"Shut up and let's go." Johnny growled.

They all watched Davis open a small portal in their living room. Peter thought it was similar to the ones Dr. Strange created but this one wasn't orange. It was blue.

"Follow me." Davis stepped into the slipstream with Peter, Bobby, Johnny, and Wyatt right behind him.

Peter shot Wyatt a look.

"There's no way in hell you're leaving me here."

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* * *

FRIDAY had painted all of the escaped prisoners on Iron Man's HUD. It was going to be impossible to contain them all. While a lot of them had instinctively rained down destruction on New York, taking out their frustrations at being locked up for so long; others, the smarter ones, potentially the more dangerous ones, had simply escaped. The ones that could blend in with the stampede of innocent bystanders had. The ones that couldn't had just fled. When Tony figured out what had caused the breach there would be hell to pay. Half of these things he had been involved in their original capture. He really didn't want to have to do it again. "Cap, you've got three coming in hard on your six."

Steve instinctively threw the shield, knowing it would hit its target. It didn't stop the onslaught that was continuing to come. The Chitauri were blindly destroying everything in their path. With no unifying leader they simply destroyed. It reminded Steve of the Hulk...whom he really missed in the moment.

Tony ran through the data on his HUD. He and Rhodey were the only two that could see all the players on the board. "FRIDAY, why has Spider-Man's transponder lit up?" Dealing with a malfunction in the middle of a battle would be a nightmare.

"Uh, Tony...". Rhodey had seen the same transponder signal light up. He, however, had the benefit of facing in the right direction when a portal opened.

"That would be because Spider-Man is here and he apparently brought friends." Natasha's voice rang through the com channel as Tony's heart dropped into his stomach.

"Spider-Man...don't you have a test this afternoon." Tony ground out the words. This was the last place he wanted his kid to be.

"Yeah, so if we could wrap this up it would be great." Peter paused as he fired taser webs at a group that currently battling against Sam and Redwing. "Hey, can you do me a favor and paint the four others that are with me as friendlies."

"FRIDAY, paint Iceman, the guy on fire, the guy that just kicked a Chitauri through a window, and the guy making blue portals as friendlies." Tony was going to ground Peter. He wasn't sure how he was going to accomplish it but Peter was absolutely with out a doubt grounded.


	86. Chapter 86 - Into The Slipstream, part 2

Tony surveyed the scene below him. As horrible as the situation was less than ten minutes before, it seemed as though the tide was turning in their favor. He hated to admit it but Spider-Man showing up with four extra bodies had helped tremendously. It evened the odds and made them a little less outnumbered. He cringed a little at some of the stuff they were doing but if he were honest they weren't any more destructive than he was on a regular basis. And it was obvious Peter's training wasn't slipping. Peter was still in trouble but as long as no one got hurt Tony could live with it.

Peter fired web grenades at a group of Kree effectively taking them out of the fight. Karen had immediately tapped into FRIDAY when they arrived and had painted all of the targets on Peter's HUD. He quickly checked down on everyone's position. Bobby and Johnny were taking on anything that looked alien. Davis was sending anything that looked vaguely hostile through a portal. He grinned to himself when he saw Wyatt and Natasha taking on a group on the street. He propelled himself upward and caught a glimpse of Vision and Wanda taking down a group. It seemed like fight was coming to a close. Iron Man landed next to Steve in an open area next to the water so he swung that way and landed in front of them.

"Queens...thanks for the assist." Steve could tell Tony was fuming at the fact that Peter had shown up. He, on the other hand, was grateful for the much needed help.

Peter tilted his head and looked at his dad. He knew he was mad but given the option there was no way he wouldn't have come. He glanced over and saw Nat and Wyatt jogging over to join the group.

"Spidey, you need to bring your friends over for a play date." She looked over to Steve. I think we're about 98% contained. She glanced back at Davis who was coming over to join the group. "Where did you send the ones you portaled out of here?"

"An abandoned island about 100 miles to the west of Australia. It's less than one square mile so unless they can fly they're not getting off and they can't hurt anyone."

Steve stifled a laugh. "Ok, we can send SHEILD to go pick them up." He glanced up as the Human Torch landed next to Peter and Iceman slid down an ice ramp on his other side.

Tony fought the urge to flip over to the private channel to talk to Peter. "Spidey, my guess is more than one of you have a test this afternoon. You can tell me all about it when I see you tonight." He thought it would be better to cool off between now and tonight.

Peter checked down on his HUD again to make sure the rest of the team were wrapping without a problem. He looked around at his team. The word in itself felt strange but that's what they were. "Ready to go?"

Davis opened a portal and they were standing back in their living room moments later.

"We just fought with the Avengers." Johnny and Wyatt high fived each other then turned to look at Peter. "You do that on a regular basis?"

Peter frowned. "Not as much since coming to college, but yeah." He looked over to Davis. "Thanks for the transport. What's your story?"

Davis looked at the group in front of him. "I never intended to use my powers again." He glanced over at Bobby. "That's why Professor Xavier didn't introduce us. Using my powers means there's a chance my dad can find me." He looked over at Peter. "But it seemed to be worth the risk."

Peter looked at Davis. "You don't have to worry about anyone getting to you. In case the last 30 minutes didn't prove it, we have access to some pretty robust backup."

Johnny looked down at his watch. Had it really only been 30 minutes? He realized it was more like 45..."uh, Peter, Davis...were going to be late for class if we don't leave now."

Peter sighed and grabbed his keys and handed the flash cards to Davis. "Come on." Looking back at Bobby and Wyatt he added, "Order pizza or something for dinner." Going out tonight wasn't an option. He knew everyone needed time to rehash the events of the afternoon. Plus, his dad was going to show up at some point. He couldn't wait to find out how that was going to go.

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* * *

The five boys were sitting in various positions in the living room surrounded by pizza boxes when they heard a noise upstairs. Wyatt, Johnny, and Davis hadn't witnessed Iron Man's entrance to the house. Bobby and Peter both knew the sound was the roof entrance. Peter thought about getting up and heading him off but hesitated enough where he knew he no longer had time. All five boys turned and watched Iron Man walk into the living room, armor retreating back into its nanohousing. Peter thought he heard Wyatt murmur "awesome". If nothing else, Iron Man knew how to make an entrance.

"Hey dad. Want some pizza?"

Tony looked at the group of boys sitting in the living room. He of course knew Bobby and he recognized the one fighting with Natasha and the one with the portals. He was surprised to see Johnny Storm. He knew his sister and brother-in-law and had not expected to see him now. "No one is hurt, right?"

Peter fought the urge to stand up. "Not a scratch. And I think the three of us did ok on our test."

Tony let out an internal sigh of relief and walked over to sit next to Peter. "Hand me a slice. And everyone start spilling their backstory."

Peter grinned and handed his dad a piece of pizza and made introductions. "Slipstream or Davis Cameron. Wyatt is just Wyatt. You know Bobby. And this is Johnny Storm...the Human Torch."

Tony took a bite of pizza. "Johnny, I know Sue and Reed. Do they know about your alter ego?"

"Yes sir. Unfortunately. They and Ben, Reed's pilot, were exposed to the same cosmic radiation I was. It affected all of us differently." Johnny pulled his knee up to his chest from his position on the floor. He hadn't really told anyone other than Wyatt the extent the other three had been affected.

Tony frowned. "It explains why no one has seen them in a while. I'll call Reed and see if there's anything I can do." He looked over at Davis. "Australian?"

Davis nodded. "Yes sir. My father is the head of Australia's organized crime. My abilities are the result of the Terrigen drug. Professor Xavier got me away from him and out of Australia."

Tony turned to face Wyatt. "And you?"

Wyatt shrugged. "I've known Johnny and Sue for a while. I know when I'm out of my league and when to stay on the sidelines."

Peter swallowed his bite of pizza. "Kinda like Ned but can actually hold his own in a fight."

Tony put his pizza down and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Do all of you understand what you're getting into? How dangerous it is?"

Peter was surprised that Johnny was the one to speak first. "We do. We know the world we live in. I never imagined myself to be a superhero. The reality is that I'm a spoiled rich kid that got dealt a really bad hand. I can either hide what I can do or use it for good. I've sat on the sidelines and watched bad guys get away with everything from bullying to murder and didn't do anything because it didn't affect me. Now, I can burst into flames and my sister can turn invisible. I can do more. Doing it with them makes it easier. We have each other's backs."

Tony looked between the boys. "You all feel this way?"

Peter smiled inwardly when all of them responded with emphatic "Yes sirs".

"Ok. You have a long weekend coming up. All of you are coming to the compound." He looked at Davis and Wyatt. "You two are not to get into any kind of battle without some kind of Kevlar or something on." He thought through his options. "I'll come up with something. And I don't think I need to tell you the need for keeping your identities secret." He stood up. "Pete, walk me out."

Peter stood up and walked with his dad up the stairs. "I somehow thought you'd be a little more mad."

Tony turned to glare at Peter. "Oh, I was plenty mad. Cooler heads prevailed." They got to the landing on the top floor and Tony turned to look at Peter. "I did not want you in the middle of that battle."

"Dad, there's no where I'd rather be. If you're in a battle I want to be there with you." Peter stood toe to toe with Tony. He needed his dad to understand how important it was to him.

Tony studied Peter's face. "What happened to the kid I talked into going to Germany with me."

"He grew a couple of inches and apparently got his own team."

Tony smiled. "Leadership looks good on you. Take it slow thought." Tony reached out and pulled Peter into a hug. "I love you kid."

"Love you too dad." Peter squeezed a final time before letting him go. "I won't do anything stupid."


	87. Chapter 87 - Weekend With The Avengers

Peter pulled into the parking lot of the regional airport north of Cambridge. Happy was waiting with one of the private jets to take the team, Peter's team, to the compound for the four day weekend. Peter knew without a doubt the other four had no idea what they were heading into. Bobby probably had an idea but even he had never really gone through a training session with any of the Avengers.

The flight was incredibly brief. Peter groaned when he saw Natasha and Bucky waiting for them by the landing zone. Throwing his duffel bag over his shoulder he led the group off the plane towards the two people who would more than likely try to kill each of them at some point this weekend.

Bucky enveloped Peter in a hug. "Hey kid! You've been gone too long. But, I heard you looked good in New York."

"Thanks Bucky. I missed you all too." He took a step back. "Bucky, Natasha this is Johnny, Wyatt, Davis, and you know Bobby."

Natasha grabbed Wyatt by the arm. "You're with me Wyatt. I want to see what you've got."

The remaining four watched Wyatt leave with Black Widow. "Ok, the rest of you are with me." Bucky led them towards one of the training gyms. Waiting in the gym was the rest of the Avengers.

Steve stepped forward and greeted each of them. "The purpose of this weekend is to see how your abilities function, make suggestions as to how to use them better, and to give you some guidance on how not to get yourself or each other killed."

Peter glanced at the rest of them. They really hadn't been given a choice. Tony just told them they had to show up and they did. He somewhat suspected that Johnny's sister and Professor X were completely on board which more than likely contributed to no one really pushing back.

Steve paired Bobby, Johnny, and Davis up with Avengers. "Peter, you're with me." He directed Peter onto their normal sparring mat. "So you have a team."

Peter stopped and laughed. "That sounds exactly like one of those videos I had to watch in school ...'so you got detention'..." His voice mimicking Captain America's voice from the videos.

Steve shook his head. "Yeah, I've been trying to figure out how to make this not sound like a lecture." In a sparring position he threw a warm up punch.

Deflecting the punch and countering with one of his own, Peter frowned. "Why am I getting a lecture. I thought I was actually doing pretty good."

Steve continued to throw warm up punches, "You are. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into." He increased the speed and force of his attacks. "I volunteered for the Super Soldier program when I was a couple years older than you are now. It was after I had tried to enlist and gotten turned down multiple times. Erskine said I was selected because I knew the value of strength. The military bought into it because I jumped on a grenade. I was ready to sacrifice myself for the greater good." He increased his speed and force again, Peter matching every move. "It's a hell of a lot easier to die than it is to lead."

Peter started throwing his own punches instead of just matching Steve's. "Is dad trying to get you to talk me into just being a college kid?"

Steve blocked Peter's punches and continued their normal sparring routine. "No. But you know he'll always prefer for you to stay safe. What I'm trying to tell you is that you've always found it easy to sacrifice yourself. You step in front of bullets, you forego any kind of regular life, you run into situations with the knowledge that you might not come out. All to protect others and to do the right thing. What you need to understand is that sometimes, it's not you that needs to be sacrificed but a member of your team and it sucks."

Peter hesitated at Steve's comment, which meant that he missed a block and felt Steve's fist connect with his cheek. He parried the other hits, relieved that Steve hasn't stopped the attack just because he lost focus.

Steve smiled, "You didn't think of that part, did you."

Peter frowned and continued sparring. "I just don't like it."

"Nor should you. But it's part of it. Sending people into situations that could kill them. Being the one to make the decision to do something only to have it backfire. All of the deaths that have been the result of a decision I made are on me. The rest of the team may feel guilty about it, but at the end of the day, each death is my responsibility". Steve increased speed and force again. "It sucks."

Peter thought through what Steve was saying. He was right. He hadn't thought through that aspect of leadership. He could sacrifice himself. Could he sacrifice others? The very thought turned his stomach. He continued sparring with Steve. Was there another option? There was always another option. He'd just have to find it.

Steve watched Peter process what he was saying. Tony used to always say you could see the wheels turning in his head. There was a lot of truth to it. He took a moment to glance around and realized that most of the rest of the gym, both teams, were watching them. Then he realized he and Peter had probably cranked things up a little too much. He backed off until they both came to a stop. He addressed the group. "That's enough for now. Let's get everyone settled. Dinner is at 6:00."

The Avengers showed the boys to their rooms. Peter was surprised, but happy, that instead of him being upstairs in his actual room, his was with the rest of his team. The rooms were arranged around a central common area that, once showered, the boys gathered before heading to dinner.

Johnny looked at Peter. "You and Captain America were pretty impressive. Just how strong are you?"

Peter shrugged. "I don't think we've really found my max. I once had to lift a couple tons of debris off my back."

Bobby had already heard the story so he grinned when everyone else's jaw dropped. "So Wyatt, how was Black Widow? What did you all do?"

Wyatt stretched his legs out in front of him and rolled his neck. "I sparred with her. She's quick. And brutal. She's got this move where she flips over you and lands on your neck and takes you down with momentum. I got a couple of good punches in though."

Peter leaned forward. "Really? I would have paid good money to see that. Not many people can actually land anything."

Wyatt grinned. "I know. She said something about it the first time I hit her."

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* * *

Dinner with the Avengers was uneventful. Peter thought the other four were actually a little disappointed that dinner was just dinner and socializing. The four boys still saw the Avengers as larger than life superhero's so it was a little mind blowing for all of them that they were really just normal people that just happened to have extraordinary abilities.

On the Avenger's part, dinner was intended to help the boys relax as well as get to know them better. Natasha and Bucky wanted to fully vet the people who would be watching Peter's back so they intentionally spent time with all of them.

Peter pushed a chair out for his dad when he walked in close to the end of dinner. "I was a little surprised that you didn't participate in everything this afternoon."

"Who do you think was running biometric scans." Tony smirked at Peter.

"FRIDAY. FRIDAY ran the scans." Peter smirked back at Tony. Steve interrupted the banter between father and son.

"8am sharp in ops." He looked over at Peter. "We thought we'd download both teams on where we stand with the prison breakout before we start working through abilities."

Peter nodded in response. He couldn't believe Steve was going to include them in a briefing about the breakout. There had been a couple news reports about it and a lot of debate in DC about it. Ross had made his first appearance since being fired from Secretary of State. His comments seemed to have been centered around how dangerous the prisoners were. He had also offered praise for how quickly the Avengers had contained the situation which of course put everyone on edge.

The group started breaking up, Peter spent a little bit of time catching up with his dad before ushering his team to their quarters. He thought he might have to force everyone to call it a night early but by the time they got to their quarters the events of the day were catching up with them. Wyatt wasn't the only one swallowing a couple Advil before heading to be. 8am would be there early.


	88. Chapter 88 - Weekend part II

Steve looked around the table at the combined group. It had dawned on him last night that they were in the process of preparing the next group of Avengers. When Sam and Wanda had joined it was just adding new recruits into the mix. For the first time since coming out of the ice, Steve felt like there would people to fill his shoes after he was gone. The Super Soldier serum that flowed through his veins slowed his aging but it didn't stop it completely. He wouldn't be able to do this forever, nor did he want to. There were times when he was just tired. But, while part of him relished the time when he could just stop, he also hated the idea of the burden falling on anyone else. The talk with Peter during their sparing match yesterday had just reminded him that he would still rather sacrifice himself than others. He always would.

Tony pulled up a hologram at the center of the table. "The prison that suffered the breakout was East Coast Vault." He glanced over at Peter, "For those of you who don't know, there are multiple classified prisons across the world designed to hold enhanced or mutated individuals and creatures of alien origin. Originally it was just the original Vault in the Rocky Mountains and the Raft which is in the Atlantic but it became evident that a second Vault was needed on the East Coast. In what can only be described as an monumental error in judgement they put it on Rikers Island."

Clint piped up from the side. "Your tax dollars at work. Let's put the most dangerous criminals next to super-villains. What could go wrong."

"Apparently a massive breakout." Sam chimed in from next to Bucky.

"Out of the 74 inmates of the Vault, 44 were recaptured, 18 were killed, 12 remain at large. The most dangerous of the 12 is Abomination. SHIELD is handling. When they locate Abomination they'll let us know."

"You know we could eliminate the need for prisons and the risk of escape...I'm just sayin'. I still have the scars from capturing some of these guys." Clint leaned back and looked at the rest of the group.

Steve shook his head. "It's not our style."

Bucky leaned forward. This was a conversation they had multiple times. It always ended the same which meant it was pointless to have it again. "What about Ross. He had ties to Abomination before. I don't think any of us bought his gratitude as being sincere."

Wanda shook her head. "His comments left me with an odd feeling. There was something off about it I just can't figure out what it is."

Tony turned off the hologram. "Yeah, none of us trust Ross." He looked directly at Peter. "Which is why it's imperative that you five keep your identities a secret. If even one of you gets blown, the rest of you are exposed. It's nothing short of a miracle that Peter's hid Spider-Man as long as he has."

All five nodded. They understood what was at stake. Spider-Man had a reputation as a good guy. The rest of them didn't have a resume and for Johnny and Bobby, having non-human looking forms wasn't going to endear them to most of the world.

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* * *

Tony sat next to Steve and Natasha in one of the many conference rooms. After the breakout briefing, Johnny, Bobby, and Davis had been dismissed to MedBay. Peter and Wyatt had accompanied them since Peter could tell Davis was a little hesitant.

Across from Tony sat Reed and Sue Richardson and Charles Xavier. The combined IQ currently in the room wasn't lost on Tony. It was an impressive group.

Charles rested his elbows on his chair. "So how did they do last night?"

Steve spoke first. "Better than I anticipated. Bobby's been training with Peter for almost a full year and it shows. Davis doesn't have much training but he's scrappy. Johnny is naturally athletic. He just needs some direction."

Sue stifled a laugh. "That's an understatement."

Steve smiled in response. "Nat, how did Wyatt do?"

"He scored a couple hits." She rubbed her jaw. "Doesn't volunteer a lot of information but I finally got out of him that he's a full blooded Comanche and is the eldest son of their tribal chief. He really doesn't want to become chief."

"You got all of that in a couple hours? We had known him for something like six months before knowing he was Comanche." Sue looked over at Reed. Wyatt and Johnny had been friends since boarding school. It had taken almost a year to find out that Wyatt was at boarding school because of how rebellious he had been at home. Another year to find out it was because he really didn't want to ever become Chief of their tribe.

Tony shook his head. "It's what she does." He looked at the entire group. "Ok, first impressions. Are they going to get themselves killed if we let them continue to function as a team on their own?"

Steve and Natasha both shook their heads. "They're young but none of them are stupid. We need to help them learn how to use their abilities better. Sam said Davis barely talks about his ability."

Charles leaned forward. "Davis has a lot of fear when it comes to his abilities. When they triggered, no one around him understood it. His father saw it as something he could use." Charles paused, "His father is not a good man. Logan was the one that brought him in. I'm not sure anyone else would have been able to retrieve him safely."

"I've got someone coming in later this morning who makes similar portals. Hopefully between his knowledge and ours we can help him. And hopefully he understands that there are plenty of people who can protect him from his father."

Reed shook his head. "Are we really considering letting five 19 year-olds form a superhero team and function on their own?"

Tony fought off a laugh. "You think Johnny's going to listen if you say no? They're going to do it with or without our help. The only reason Charles and I got involved with the arson thing was that Bobby asked if anyone had ever heard of a fire mutant and Peter's suit automatically reports data."

"Tony is right Reed. I'd rather they get some decent training instead of making it up as they go." Sue reached over and grabbed Reed's hand.

Charles cleared his throat. "I am also concerned that they soon won't have a choice. I believe Ross's comments after the prison break were specifically laying groundwork for an anti-mutant movement."

Tony nodded. "Wanda thought it was off too. We've been watching him for a while. None of us trust him." He looked around the room. He had come a long way since Fury had originally approached him about the Avengers. He was more than willing to function on his own back then. Now, he welcomed outside input. "Shall we go see how the boys are doing?"

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* * *

Dr. Strange had portaled directly into MedBay. "Peter, I can't tell you happy I am that I'm not here making a house call because you're hurt...again." He looked at the rest of them. "I understand one of you has the ability to make portals." Tony had given him what data he could as well as video from the battle a couple weeks ago. Tony had also told him he had to find some kind of bedside manner in order to deal with Davis. The kid was beyond skittish. He smiled. "Let me show you what I can do and explain to you how I make mine and we can compare notes."

Peter leaned against the doorframe watching Davis. He had spent the weeks since the breakout gaining Davis's trust. He thought he had made a decent amount of progress but Davis still looked like a deer caught in headlights. He thought it probably helped that Professor Xavier was also in the room. The man had a calming affect on Davis. Once he was convinced that Davis was ok, he left to seek out Steve.

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* * *

"So, what do you think?"

Steve and Bucky were in the common area on the Avenger's floor. Bucky smirked at Peter who obviously wanted their blessing. "I think with a little training they won't get you killed."

Peter looked over at Steve expectantly.

"I think it's a good group. You all are young so I really don't want you doing much on your own yet. Just like you started out with us on containment, you all need to get some low risk ops to get experience."

Peter frowned. "How is that going to work?"

"We'll see if we can loop you in on something." Steve paused and looked at Peter. He could tell he was genuinely worried about what everyone thought. "Relax Peter. It'll be fine."


	89. Chapter 89 - MJ

They had returned from the compound with a training regiment as well as firm instructions not to engage with anything or anyone without giving someone a heads up. Each of them had contact information not only for Tony but Steve and Natasha as well. All four boys were more impressed with the fact that they had Black Widow's cell phone number than anything. Peter understood the affect she had on most males. For him, she was more like a big sister. She always had been. Between training and school, their nights out were limited to only a couple nights a week.

Peter rested his chin on his hand and watched Davis and Johnny shoot paper footballs at each other. So far, Davis was ahead by two but Johnny had made the last three shot so he definitely had the momentum. Whoever lost had to cook dinner Sunday night. Peter had felt off all night. His Spidey sense was buzzing but not in the 'you're about to be attacked' kind of way. As far as he could tell he had three different levels. Level 1 was someone is watching you but you're not currently in danger. Level 2 was 'someone is watching you and they're planning to hurt you' or a general 'danger' warning. Level 3 was 'duck because you're about to get hit'. This was somewhere between 1 and 2. Until it ramped up to 2 he wasn't going to worry about it.

Wyatt had gotten bored with the competition. Gwen was playing pool with some guy. Wyatt had seen him around before. His eyes started traveling through The Odyssey. He always enjoyed people watching. It was generally the same people who showed up at The Odyssey which is why new people always stood out. "Whoa...". His eyes landed on two girls by the door. The taller one looked vaguely familiar and was obviously looking for someone.

Bobby looked up at Wyatt's 'Whoa' and looked in the direction he was staring. "Uh...Peter...she looks a lot like the picture you have in your phone."

Peter glanced up and froze. "MJ?" MJ was in Boston. Why was MJ in Boston.

"That's MJ? Holy crap. Forget everything I ever said about you needing to move on." The five boys stared in the direction of the door. Peter was completely frozen. His brain had shut down. As if it were slowly booting up again he started noticing things. Like the fact that her hair was a little longer. And it was completely down, not pulled back like she usually wore it. It kind of reminded him of the way she looked when they had gone to the ill-fated 2nd homecoming dance. He shook himself out of the mental reboot when he realized she had spotted him and was headed his way. Launching to his feet he met her about five feet from the table.

"MJ. You're in Boston." He breathed out the words in what he was sure was probably about a quarter of the time it should have taken to say them.

"I am." MJ smiled at Peter. In that moment she was absolutely sure that coming to Boston had been the right move.

"Why are you in Boston? I mean, I'm really glad you're in Boston but I don't understand why you're here...in Boston." He felt like he had probably said the word Boston a few too many times. His brain definitely was not firing on all cylinders at the moment.

MJ took a deep breath. "I wanted to talk to you."

"You drove 5 hours to talk to me?" Peter frowned with confusion.

MJ laughed, "It was more like 4. My friend Jennifer drove." She nodded her head in the direction of the girl standing next to her.

Peter looked over and saw Jennifer who until that moment he had been completely oblivious to. "Hi. Jennifer. I'm Peter." He could feel Wyatt stand up behind him.

"And I'm Wyatt, Johnny and Davis are playing table football, and that's Bobby." Wyatt pulled over two chairs and gently nudged Peter to move. For someone who normally processed things so quickly MJ's appearance had turned him into a slow moving turtle with apparent brain damage.

MJ grabbed Peter's hand and pulled him into a chair next to her. "So this is the Odyssey. I can see why you like it. It's not too loud."

Peter stared at MJ. "MJ?" He shook his head as if to clear it. "Yeah, this is the Odyssey."

Wyatt leaned between MJ and Jennifer. "What are your plans? You probably need somewhere to stay, right?" He smiled at Jennifer. "I am more than happy to sleep on the couch and you can take my bed."

"That's sweet." Jennifer smiled back at Wyatt. "We really didn't make plans past getting here, so having a place to crash would be great!" When MJ had brought up the idea of going to see Peter, she had offered to go with her partially because MJ would have had to borrow her car and her dad would have flipped if she had just let MJ take it but also because she and MJ had become pretty good friends over the last year and she knew how much MJ wanted to get things worked out with Peter. She would much rather have a roommate that wasn't pining over a boy, although MJ would never in a million years describe herself as pining.

"Consider it done. For a houseful of guys, we aren't that bad." Wyatt scooted a chair closer to Jennifer. "So I'm assuming you're at Princeton too. Are you pre-law like MJ?"

Jennifer nodded. "We have different interests. MJ's focus is on corporate law and mine is criminal."

"Perfect. You can be my defense attorney if I ever need one." Wyatt looked over at Johnny and Davis who had finished their table football game. "So who's cooking dinner tomorrow?"

Johnny scowled. "I am." He looked around at the other. "Any chance you all want to just head back to the house?" He rotated his neck and heard a distinct pop. Wyatt really needed to ease up a little on the training.

With nods all around, Wyatt reached over and grabbed Jennifer's keys. "Why don't I drive. You just spent 4 hours in a car and the streets here can be a little narrow in places." He glanced down at the key. "SUV?" After receiving an affirmative nod, he glanced back at the others. "Davis, Johnny, Bobby...you're with us. MJ and Peter can fend for themselves."

MJ and Peter looked at the group stand up around them and head for the door. "What just happened?" Peter looked at MJ in genuine confusion.

"Wyatt is quite possibly the best wingman ever. Plus, I think he might be interested in Jennifer." MJ stood up and pulled Peter to his feet. "Come on. We're apparently heading to your house." They walked out of the Odyssey hand in hand. MJ had seen Peter's car when they had gotten there so she knew where he had parked. It almost felt normal when she slid into the passenger seat. She had been in Peter's car more times than she could count. It had a certain familiarity, just like Peter.

Peter had given some thought to just driving around but it was starting to rain a little so he opted to just head to the house although he did take the long way. He was arguing with himself over what to say when MJ spoke up.

"So Johnny is the fire guy and Bobby is ice, right?"

Peter glanced over at MJ. She had always been so observant. He supposed it wasn't a hard leap to make if you had a starting point...like knowing who Spider-Man was. "Yes. Davis can make wormholes. It's how we got to NY so fast."

"Handy. And Wyatt?"

Peter chuckled, "No special ability other than the fact that he landed not only one but five hits on Nat."

"Seriously? That's pretty amazing. Bet she loves having him as a new project." MJ shifted in her seat and looked at Peter. This is exactly what she wanted.

Peter turned down the street that would take them to the house. Even the long way wasn't long enough. "How's school going?" Even though they had been texting pretty regularly since Christmas talking to MJ in person was so much better.

"School is good. Dual enrollment was a great idea in high school. I'm enjoying my pre-law classes. I don't think I would have liked having to take all of the core classes."

Peter nodded in agreement. It really had been a great move. He knew Pepper had pulled some strings to make it all come together their junior and senior year. As a result they had all been able to start essentially halfway through what would have been their sophomore year. Shaving a year and a half off of a 4-year degree and then being able to test out of some of the classes meant they could technically graduate in 2 years. His dad and Pepper were already bringing up getting a master's degree or two which he would probably do. "Where are you thinking about for law school?" They had danced around the question in texts but Peter had never outright asked outright.

"It's a toss up between Columbia, Harvard, or Boston. Probably depends on where this goes." MJ smirked at Peter.

Peter smiled...there was the MJ he was used to. He hated that they were tiptoeing around each other. He pulled into the driveway and waited for the garage door to open. Pulling inside he cut off the engine and shut the door. "Where is this going?"

"Hopefully inside. I was serious when I said I wanted to talk to you." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "So come on."

Peter watched MJ get out of the car. Sighing, he got out grabbed her hand and took her inside. She wanted to talk. The only conceivable place they could talk with five other people in the house was the roof or his room. Since it was raining he opted for his room. Shutting the door behind him he dropped his keys and wallet on his dresser and watched MJ sit on the side of his bed. He leaned against the dresser and crossed his arms. "Ok...talk."

MJ took a deep breath. "Peter...I miss you. I miss talking to you."

Peter latched onto the glimmer of hope. If MJ missed him there was a chance they could go back to the way things were. "MJ, I miss you too...".

MJ put her hand up to stop him from continuing. "Let me finish." She paused and took another deep breath. "After I found out about Spider-Man, you kept everything in separate compartments. You'd let me peak into your Spider-Man box if you thought it wasn't too bad or if you thought it wasn't something that was classified. But the longer you were Spider-Man, the more you kept things separate. After the Homecoming dance, the second one, it seemed like you were co-mingling your boxes a little. But instead of letting me in, you closed off more and more until all I saw of you was this little sliver." She met his eyes. "Then you pulled the crap about Africa and it was kind of the last straw."

"How is wanting to keep you safe something that makes you break up with me? You don't know what had just happened...what we took down." Peter was just as frustrated now as he was when she originally broke up with him.

"You're right. I didn't know." MJ looked around his room. It was pretty much the same as it had been in New York, maybe slightly fewer toys but she still spied a couple action figures propped against books and holding the power cord to his laptop. She focused on him again. "You know, other than the pictures in the paper and the interview you had to do, I haven't seen you in nine months. I thought maybe I was getting over you before that, but I realized I wasn't. Then Spider-Man showed up in New York during whatever battle the Avengers got into and I realized that not only was I not getting over you but I didn't want to." She took another deep breath. "When I saw you fighting...I just didn't want it to end up being too late and I didn't try."

Peter stared at MJ. "I may be more confused now than I was when you broke up with me. I don't know what you want."

"Peter...I want you...all of you. Spider-Man included. But not if it means you're going to keep me out of the boxes. I don't want just part of you. I want to know about the bad nights and the things you see and do so no one else has to. You know I know how to keep a secret so it shouldn't be a problem with the Avengers." MJ crossed her arms and stared at Peter. She wasn't sure what to expect at this point. He had kept secrets for so long she wasn't sure if he knew how not to keep things secret.

"You don't want to know everything. Trust me." Peter couldn't even process what she was asking. "I wouldn't wish some of these things on my worst enemy much less someone I...". Peter swallowed and wasn't sure he could finish the sentence. "MJ...you don't want to know."

"I do. I want to know what makes you wake up screaming so I know how to help you. I want to know what makes you get lost in your head so I can pull you out again. I want you to talk to me."

Peter stared up at the ceiling. Keeping things separate was how he ensured everyone's safety. Not just from the actual threat but also from the knowledge of just how evil people could be. Maybe if he gave her a look she'd realize she didn't want to know. He looked back at her. "The Africa mission was to take out a warlord who had gotten a hold of some alien tech and was threatening the surrounding countries. Only when we got there it wasn't just the alien tech. They kidnap women and children to use for slave labor and other horrible things. So when we walk into what we think is a weapons cache, it's actually a room full of terrified girls, some as young as 5 or 6 that had been beaten and raped. Or maybe you want to hear about the Hong Kong mission last summer where some terrorist brutally killed half of their hostages before we got there." He looked at her, tears threatening to fall. "Is that what you want to know? Because those things suck and no one else should have to deal with them."

MJ stood up, walked over, and wrapped her arms around him. "Yes. Not because I want to know about the horrible things but because you will eventually break if you don't let anyone in. My guess is that Tony is the only one you even halfway talk to. Maybe Steve some. But I know you well enough to know that you don't tell them everything. I don't want you to break. The world needs Spider-Man and I need you."

Peter breathed in the scent of her shampoo. It still had the same calming affect. "MJ...I don't know if I can."

MJ leaned back and looked at Peter. "I'm not asking for things to change overnight. I'm just telling you what I need. You need to decide if it's something you want."

"It's not that easy. What I want doesn't always happen."

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* * *

MJ woke up to a buzzing on Peter's nightstand. They had fallen asleep curled up next to each other, neither one taking the time change out of what they had on. They had talked, made what she hoped was progress, then fallen asleep. She looked over at Peter's phone and saw "Dad" flashing on the screen. She felt Peter shift next to her so she swiped to answer the call and put it on speaker. "Stark..."

Tony looked at his phone to make sure he had called Peter. "MJ? Why are you answering Peter's phone."

"Because she drove up yesterday and we spent most of last night talking and fell asleep around 4am...after talking." Peter added emphasis to the word talking. "Why are you calling at 8am on a Sunday morning?"

Tony fought back a laugh. This was exactly why he was calling at 8am. "Because Morgan lost her MIT bear in the lake and has been up since about the time you went to bed begging us to bring her to see you so you can get her another bear." He glanced over at Pepper who was currently twisted around in the passenger seat trying to convince Morgan that daddy was on the phone with her brother. "So we flew up and are currently about 20 minutes from the house. Just giving you a heads up...which you obviously needed."

"Talking dad...Pepper and Morgan are with you?" Peter swatted at MJ who was currently trying to stifle a laugh at how completely uncomfortable Peter was right now.

"Yep. See you in 20."

Peter rolled over onto his back. "Pepper will be here in 20 minutes." He yelled loud enough that hopefully he had at least woken everyone up. All of his housemates were terrified of Pepper. She had made an innocent comment on one of their visits about the state of the house after a particularly rough week at school. It wasn't that the boys were messy, they were just boys...and college students. But Pepper had this way of getting a message across with very few words. So now, anytime Pepper showed up, the house was immaculate. Which it wasn't right now. He smiled when he heard several expletives and scrambling.

"They're scared of Pepper?"

Peter turned his head to the side and looked at MJ. "Who do you know that isn't terrified of Pepper, present company excluded of course."

MJ pushed herself into a sitting position. "Good point. Let me grab my toothbrush from my bag and I'll help you all clean up."

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* * *

By the time Morgan burst through the door Wyatt, Bobby, MJ, and Jennifer were sitting at the bar in the kitchen drinking coffee after successfully tidying up most of the rooms. Peter had met her at the door and scooped her up as she ran full steam into his arms.

"Bear!"

"We can go get a new bear but they don't open until later." Peter stepped aside and let Tony and Pepper in, who had at least brought donuts with them.

Pepper crossed over to MJ and hugged her. She had always liked MJ and knew she could be good for Peter. She was glad they were talking.

Donuts demolished, Peter and Tony decided they need to at least act like they were taking Morgan to get a new bear since she was terrorizing everyone. They still had about 30 minutes to kill so Tony drove randomly through Boston with Morgan buckled in the back seat and Peter in the passenger seat. "So MJ? Are you two back together?"

Peter frowned. "It's complicated." He turned to look at is dad. "She wants to know everything. Every crap mission, every nightmare, everything. She said she wants me but only if she can have all of me. No more secrets."

"And you?" Tony knew how much Peter struggled with secrets.

"It's MJ."

Tony smiled. "If anyone could handle knowing everything it's MJ. I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea."

"Really?" Peter frowned. He hadn't expected his dad to think this was a good idea.

"It's good to have someone to talk to and it gives you the ability to actually get close to someone. That's not something that everyone has. Out of all of the superhero's you know, Clint and I are the only two that are married. And...to be honest, my getting married was entirely Pepper's doing. It takes a certain type of person to put up with us." Tony glanced over at Peter. "As close as Pepper and I are, there are parts of me that she doesn't see because she doesn't want to know about the bad things. If you have the opportunity to have someone who knows every part of you...you shouldn't dismiss it too quickly." Tony pulled into a parking space in front of the MIT campus store.

Peter sighed as he got out of the car. Reaching in and unbuckling Morgan from her car seat he pulled her into his arms and carried her inside to pick out a new bear.


	90. Chapter 90 - Ghosts From The Past

Peter's relationship with MJ was challenging. They both had school to deal with and they were so far away from each other. They'd talk most nights and would text during the day. MJ would ask questions and Peter would try to answer, sometimes failing miserably but other times opening up about past missions. MJ saw it as steps in the right direction. Peter wasn't sure what he saw it as. The team continued to train and Steve had even looped them in on a recapture of one of the escapees. They functioned well together and more importantly they were a cohesive team. They had each other's backs and they all knew it.

They were in a comfortable routine. School, training, repeat. Nights out at the Odyssey a couple times a week. They saw it as an opportunity to blow off steam and relax. Steve had called Peter earlier and mentioned that they might have something coming up next weekend and to be ready so the boys were using this weekend to their advantage, which meant Friday night out. Usual table secured, Peter watched his team...his friends. Johnny and Wyatt were playing pool. Davis and Bobby were in the first round of a table football game to see who would cook dinner on Sunday. It had somehow turned into an entire tournament that lasted Friday and Saturday night. Peter saw Gwen walking towards them with a guy he had seen in the Odyssey before. "Hey Gwen."

"Peter, have you met Harry?" Gwen reached down and grabbed a cheese stick out of the basket in front of Peter.

"No." Peter smiled. "Peter Parker. I think I've seen you in here before."

"Gwen talked about the place enough she finally convinced me to check it out at the beginning of the semester." He reached out his hand to shake Peter's. "Harry Osborn."

Peter froze. Osborn.

"Yes, that Osborn. I bet you can sympathize with how annoying the press can be. When my dad disappeared they were all over us. It's still not a great thing to think about." Harry forced a smile and squeezed Gwen's hand. "Gwen, are you ready to head out?"

"Sure. Bye guys."

Peter hadn't moved. Harry Osborn. Norman Osborn's son. A son without a father because of him. He felt Johnny nudge him.

"You ok?" Johnny had walked over because he could tell something was wrong but he didn't have a clue as to what it was.

"Can you all get back to the house?"

Johnny frowned. "We can Uber." He paused. "You want company?"

Peter shook his head. "I'm good." With that Peter walked out of the Odyssey, slipped behind the wheel of his car and drove off. He wasn't even sure where he was going until he realized he was on the interstate headed home. Home was where he wanted to be. Where he needed to be right now. Too much was whirling around in his head. It wasn't until he was about ten minutes from deciding if he was headed into Manhattan or continuing upstate that he realized that he had no idea if his dad was at the lake house or the tower. "Karen, can you ask FRIDAY where dad is?" He had a brief moment of panic when the thought occurred to him that maybe his dad wasn't in either place.

"FRIDAY said that your dad is at the tower. She also asked if everything was ok."

"Tell FRIDAY I'm fine." Peter didn't know what he was. It would be close to 4am when he got there. Maybe he'd just go down to the gym and run until everybody got up. He was looking forward to seeing Morgan in the morning.

He pulled into the underground parking in the tower. Into his normal spot. At home. FRIDAY greeting him in the elevator. Peter wasn't sure how his dad did it but both FRIDAY and Karen had the remarkable ability to express concern in their voices. The doors opened onto their floor. The familiar hall that led to the bedrooms one way and the kitchen and living room the other. He wasn't surprised to see the kitchen light on. FRIDAY would always be loyal to his dad regardless of what he wanted.

He walked into the kitchen to find his dad making a cup of coffee. A mug of hot chocolate was already sitting on the counter. He took a deep breath and picked it up. He was most definitely home. He walked over to the table and sat down, waiting for his dad to join him. A few moments later he did.

Peter has taken multiple sips of hot chocolate before he figured out where to start. "So there's this guy. He's been at the Odyssey a couple times. I've probably seen him on campus some. I think Gwen might be dating him." Peter paused and took a sip of hot chocolate.

Tony patiently waited for Peter to continue. He knew this wasn't about Gwen dating someone. Other than family, MJ was the only other one that might cause Peter to drive 4 hours at midnight and arrive unannounced.

"She introduced him to us tonight. His name is Harry. Harry Osborn." Peter looked up at his dad. "A son without a father. Because of me. And I was okay with it at the time. Part of me is still okay with it because of everything he did. What does that say about me?"

"It says you're human." Tony put his coffee mug down. "Pete, what happened to Osborn was not your fault. He made choices to do the things he did. He stalked you, targeted you, tried to blow up the car that you, Happy, and Pepper were in just to get to you. He would have killed both of them to grab you."

"I laid a trap knowing that his death would be the outcome. I knew you would never let him live. None of you would have let him live. Hell, I think even Steve would have killed him after he found out what he did." Peter leaned back in his chair and looked at his dad. "I was ok with it. I don't have the right to take away someone's father just because he's a horrible person."

Tony studied Peter. Peter had always had a moral compass that pointed true north. Tony credited that to May's and Ben's influence on him. Peter certainly didn't get it from him. "Pete, regardless of what you think, you didn't kill Norman Osborn. Norman Osborn killed Norman Osborn. I know you feel guilty about Harry but you don't get to take responsibility for the whole of humanity. There are consequences to actions. Norman Osborn was already dead he just didn't know it."

Peter looked over at his dad, confusion on his face. "Dad, if I hadn't set him up, he might still be alive."

"No, the outcome still would be the same. The second he targeted you he was dead. Nat or I would have figured it out eventually. But that's not what I mean. The decisions he made well before you were bitten by that spider signed his death warrant. The people he worked for would have killed him eventually and the fact that he experimented on himself would have killed him eventually. That serum that allowed him to shape shift is unstable at best. The research that we grabbed indicated that it was messing with his brain. You aren't responsible."

Peter's response was stopped by the distinct sound of tiny feet running down the hall. "What time does she normally get up?"

Tony shrugged, "It changes. Lately it's been sometime between 4am and 6am. She definitely doesn't get that from me."

Peter braced himself for the tiny human that was about to launch herself at him. "I don't know...maybe it's just that she's a terrible sleeper just like you are." He caught Morgan as she jumped up into his lap.

Tony stood up. He didn't think he had completely convinced Peter but there was no way Peter was going to pay attention to him now. "I'll make breakfast." He glanced back and smiled at his son and daughter currently playing with a web Peter had shot at the ceiling.

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* * *

Peter had a lazy morning watching cartoons with Morgan. She apparently had several favorites. The mindlessness of cartoons allowed him to sink way too deep inside his head. Johnny had texted him to check on him which he oddly appreciated. Morgan eventually got bored with her cartoons and took off to find Pepper. Peter looked at Tony as he took Morgan's seat on the couch.

"Kid, you're getting stuck in your head. You aren't responsible for Osborn. I'm just not sure how to convince you of that." Tony looked over at Peter.

Peter turned so he was leaning on the arm of the sofa and pulled his legs up. "I just hate the idea of being the reason why he doesn't have a father."

Tony sighed. "Pete, you're not the reason. He is. You are the reason a lot of other kids do still have their fathers though." Tony could tell Peter was completely blowing off his arguments. He looked down at Peter's phone when it buzzed.

Peter picked it up and glanced at it. It was a text from MJ. "It's MJ." He tossed the phone back down and looked over at his dad. He wasn't sure what he was expecting.

"Talk to MJ."

"About this?" Peter looked at his dad as if he had grown a second head.

Tony shrugged. He knew MJ would level the same arguments at Peter and right now Peter needed to hear it from multiple sources. "Yes. She wants in all the boxes. This is a pretty big box." If Peter didn't agree to go see MJ he was going to take him out to the compound. Maybe Nat or Bucky could pound it into his head.

Peter picked up the phone again and typed out a text before he changed his mind. _"I'm in New York. Are you up for a visit?"_

_"Yes. Jennifer is visiting her parent this weekend so I have the apartment to myself."_

Peter looked over at his dad. "How is this a good idea?"

Tony shrugged. "You have to stay for lunch though. Morgan was talking about cheeseburgers." Tony was actually a little surprised at himself. He had always enjoyed the close relationship he and Peter had. Part of him couldn't believe he was encouraging Peter to talk to MJ instead of him, but he thought MJ might be a little more successful right now than he was.

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* * *

Peter parked in front of MJ's apartment building and sat in the car. The drive was less than two hours but it was more than enough time to second, third, and forth guess himself. He sighed and got out the car. Walking up the flight of stairs to MJ's apartment he mindlessly thought that he was glad her apartment was on the 2nd floor. It was safer than the 1st floor. MJ pulled the door open before he knocked.

He walked in and looked around. He wasn't sure what he expected. It kind of looked like her but you could definitely tell another person lived there too.

MJ scrutinized him. She could tell when he texted that something was wrong. He actually looked worse than she expected. She pulled him over to the sofa and sat down, pulling him down next to her. "Ok...what's going on?"

Peter couldn't figure out where to begin. It had been different with his dad. The second he had said Osborn, Tony had known what the problem was. MJ didn't know anything about Osborn. It had been one of those things that went into the box labeled 'secrets'. "Remember during our senior year when my Spidey sense was going off all the time and I ended up out of school for a couple days?"

MJ nodded. "You were out for a full week." It was one of the many things that had started the downward spiral in their relationship. He wouldn't talk about what had happened to him at all. He had just disappeared for a week. She had gotten a single text that said _'I'm not dead'_.

Peter sucked in a breath. "Norman Osborn was targeting me. He had figured out that his spider was what had created Spider-Man."

"Stop...no one but you made Spider-Man. You were on a field trip to Os Corp when you got bitten?"

Peter nodded. "He had been working on a super soldier serum. I'm basically Captain America 2.0 without the shield and some spider tendencies."

MJ hadn't heard the part about the super soldier serum before. She had known he got his powers from a spider bite. Osborn was also a new piece of information. "Ok. Go on."

"Remember the aliens? The Skrull and the Kree and how we never found the Skrull?" He waited for MJ to nod before continuing. "He found the Skrull and experimented on them and was able to use their DNA to create some kind of shape shifting serum. He used it on himself. He was able to shape shift but also turn into the creature that looked a lot like the Skrull. Really strong and a little nightmarish." Peter looked over at MJ to gauge her reaction. She was listening intently but so far was dealing with it ok. "I didn't know it was Osborn at the time. I just knew this creature kept targeting me. So I laid a trap. I knew dad and the others would be able to track me so I let myself get captured."

MJ sucked in a breath. The idea that Peter had used himself as bait pissed her off. But she was more bothered by the fact that it had all gone on and she hadn't even suspected anything. "Tony must have been pissed."

Peter chuckled. "Yeah, if you remember this was right after we found out he was biologically my dad which incidentally happen because all of this was going on. When I snuck out I left him a heartfelt video, told him I loved him and called him dad for the first time. Then told him to come find me. Nat said she had never seen dad look so shaken." He knew he was getting off track and he knew part of it was because he was stalling. He took a deep breath and looked at MJ. "I purposely let myself get taken because I knew dad would find me and all of it would end. I also knew that the person responsible would never be seen again. Between dad, Nat, and Bucky someone was going to kill him." He looked down at his hands.

MJ reached over and took his hands in hers. She thought she understood what was bothering Peter. "And you feel like you're responsible for his death?"

"I am responsible for his death. Me...you're not so friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I strategically planned out an op knowing the result would be someone's death."

MJ frowned. "So why is this bothering you now?" She could work on the fact that Peter felt responsible but there had to be more to it.

"Because I met Norman Osborn's son last night. A son who is still mourning his father because I arranged to have his father killed."

MJ looked at Peter. "Ok for starters stop being melodramatic. You're making it sound like you took out a hit on Norman Osborn. You didn't. You defended yourself."

Peter frowned at MJ. "I'm not being melodramatic."

"Yes you are. When Tony and the others showed up, did he surrender willingly and they killed him anyway?"

Peter thought back. "I was unconscious when they showed up. But when I woke up they were in the middle of a huge gun battle. Him and some of his security officers."

It was MJ's turn to frown. "Why were you unconscious?"

"Oh, he hit me a couple times with electricity to see what would happen. Incidentally, I don't tolerate electricity very well. My heart was out of synch for a couple days. It's why I was out of school for so long."

MJ took a deep breath and debated what to do with that information. If the Avengers hadn't killed Osborn she would have hunted him down at this point. She could read between the lines and figured out that Osborn had used Peter as a lab rat and that made her furious. But she also knew Peter didn't need her rage right now, he needed her understanding and probably some logic knocked into him. "So the Avengers came in and did what, put a gun in his hands and told him to fight? Where was Tony?"

Peter stared at MJ and thought back to when he had been pulled out of the lab. "Dad and Bucky were getting me out of whatever I was strapped down with and then got me out of there."

"So two of the three people who absolutely would have killed Osborn were ignoring him to get to you." She waited for the confusion to roll across his face and for him to nod. "And he had security people shooting at the Avengers." She waited for Peter to nod again. "And yet you still feel responsible?"

Peter frowned. She made it sound so logical. "Yes. If I hadn't lured him into taking me he might still be alive."

"Yeah. There's no way he'd sill be alive. He was responsible for the car getting hit when Happy got hurt, right?" MJ was cycling back through everything that happened during that period. "He wasn't going to stop."

Peter looked at MJ and blinked. "So you don't think I'm responsible for his death even though I had no problem with him dying."

"Peter...I have no problem with him dying. If he weren't dead I'd want him killed for what he did to you. But no, you aren't responsible." She reached over and pressed her palm into his cheek to make sure she had his attention. "He made choices that led him down a path that killed him. He hurt you, Pepper, and Happy. He chose to fight instead of surrender. His death isn't on you, it's on him."

Peter frowned. What MJ was saying made sense but he still had an overwhelming sense of guilt when he thought about Harry. "It doesn't change the fact that Harry doesn't have a father."

MJ shrugged. "Norman Osborn should have thought of his family instead of all of the bad things he did. If Harry wants to blame someone it should be his father. But Harry doesn't know anything about it, does he?"

"I doubt it. Nat thinks everything Osborn did was off book." The tension in Peter's shoulders relaxed a little. "So you don't think I'm a horrible person."

MJ smiled. "Peter, you could never be a horrible person. A little dense at times but we're working on it." She had noticed when the tension left his shoulders. He now just looked drained. "What do you want for dinner? We can order food and watch a movie. Unless you have another supervillain death you want to take responsible for?" She poked him so he'd know she was teasing.

"No, just the one right now. How about Thai food. I haven't found a good one in Boston yet." Peter pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up a text to his dad. He typed out a simple _"Thanks"_ and hit send


	91. Chapter 91 - Job Well Done

"Iceman, check the door to your right." Clint, Bobby, and Johnny were clearing the exterior perimeter. The infiltration team consisted of Steve, Bucky, and Peter with Nat and Wyatt as the secondary team. Iron Man and War Machine were on aerial while Sam and Davis covered their egress.

Bobby still marveled that he had a functioning earpiece that didn't ice over. Stark tech was awesome. He moved to his right and iced the handle to break the lock. Opening it he quickly scanned the room. "Clear."

The intel on the location of one of the escapees had come out on Thursday. Plan in place, the boys were sitting in a briefing by 5pm Friday night. The facility that their target was holed up in was moderately defended and their target was bio enhanced. Peter had come across bio-enhanced individuals a couple times before but the rest of his team hadn't. No one quite understood why you would voluntarily replace functional parts of your body.

Proceeding to the infiltration Peter followed Steve through the door. "Watch the upper levels. FRIDAY's picking up some readings. Could be our guy." Tony's voice rang through everyone's coms. Peter glanced up. Karen wasn't picking anything up yet. "Karen, narrow beam scan floor two." He watched the readings come across his HUD. "I've got movement on the second floor."

"Ok, Spidey. Check it out but take Nat with you. Wyatt, you're with us." Steve kept moving forward with Bucky. Peter scaled the wall next to the stairs leading up to the next level. He scanned the landing and hallways before dropping down lightly on the floor. He felt Nat crouch down behind him. Karen lit up three dots in a room at the far end. Muting his mask he spoke, "Nat, three in the room at the far end. I'll go high, you go low."

"You want backup?" Steve's voice rang through the coms.

Peter glanced back at Natasha who shook her head. "No. We're good." They proceeded down the hall, pausing only slightly when they heard gunfire below. When they were closer to the door, Peter flipped up to the ceiling. Webbing then handle he opened it from above allowing himself and Natasha to stay out of the line of fire from the barrage of weapons fire that exploded from the room. The moment there was a break in the fire, Peter lowered himself just enough to fire webs at two of the three in the room before darting back up out of the line of fire. Except this time it was an electrical burst. "I don't remember any intel on electrical burst weapons. It's our target firing, I got the other two."

Natasha fired two taser discs from her gauntlets and rolled out of the way of the next burst. "Someone got an upgrade." She had been able to catch a glimpse of their target when she fired the taser discs. When originally captured his bio-enhancements just included some cybernetic limbs. Apparently now his cybernetics shot electrical bursts.

"Hey Torch, want to come give us an assist?" Peter had darted down again in an attempt to hit their target only to get hit in the shoulder with an electrical burst. The dampeners in his suit had absorbed it but it still stung a little. He felt the temperature change and he scampered to the side as Johnny landed in front of the door taking a full blast of the next electrical burst. Able to absorb the burst he simply walked into the room and grabbed the targets cybernetic arm, scorching the mechanism, bending it back and forcing him to the ground. "Are you done?" Johnny looked down at the target target who was nodding furiously. Natasha and Spider-Man walked up next to him.

"He's done." Natasha hit him with a taser disc to knock him out. "Target captured." Natasha announced to the team. The remnants of gunfire echoed for another minute before all hostile targets were neutralized. The boys headed to Quinjet 1 with Clint, Wanda, Vision, and Bucky so they weren't around when SHIELD showed up to retrieve their escapee. They'd spend the night at the compound, debrief in the morning, then head back to school the next day. At this point, Tony just kept one of the jets at the regional airport north of Cambridge. Peter had gotten his pilots license so it just made traveling between school and the compound so much easier.

The flight back was brief and the boys were unloaded and asleep before the rest of the team made it back. They were also up before 7am preparing for the briefing. When they walked into the command center it was obvious Steve and Natasha had been up all night. Tony was nursing a cup of coffee. Peter slid into a chair next to his dad and the rest of the teams filtered in.

"Anything happen after we left?" Peter swiveled in his chair to face his dad.

"No, SHIELD just took their time getting there so we had time to go through some computer files that were there which started a little research project when we got back." Tony took another sip of coffee and nodded toward Steve.

"Successful capture last night but more importantly we gained a little bit of intel while waiting on SHIELD." Steve threw an image onto the screen. "As some of you experienced first hand, our target had gotten some cybernetic upgrades since breaking out. Up until now the main person supplying bio-enhancements has been a 'Fixer' operating out of the New York area. He's gone by the name "Mr. Fix" and "Techno" but his real name is Paul Norbert Ebersol. SHIELD has had him under surveillance for a while. Our target had not made a visit to him which means there's a new player on the field. SHIELD is analyzing the tech. Most cybernetics work like Bucky's...they're tied directly into the nervous system and function like a real limb. This one was different." He put another picture up on the screen showing the back of the target from last night. "This one was tied directly into the brain stem. It's a lot more complicated and all evidence points to the idea that our fixer came to the target which means he's mobile."

Clint leaned forward. "Biology lesson aside, why do we care?"

Davis spoke up first. "Because if you're tying into the brain stem not only is it a level of technology that isn't supposed to exist but it also opens the door for control to be taken by an external source." His focus at school was biotech. By all accounts this technology should have been years off from being functional.

Steve nodded. "Controlling another person is something various factions have been playing around with for years. It looks like someone has possibly figured it out."

Sam looked at the picture of their target on the screen. "But this guy wasn't being controlled last night was he?"

Natasha shook her head. "We don't think so. But, it makes us want to know who upgraded him."

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Davis hung back to talk to Steve about potential biotech leads. The rest of the team went to grab their bags to head back to Boston. Tony grabbed Peter, stopping him from heading upstairs with everyone else.

"So I was thinking...Pepper and I have to go the SI annual board meeting the week you have Spring Break."

Peter hadn't even thought that far ahead, although Spring Break was less than a month away. "You want me to watch Morgan?"

Tony frowned. "Well, no. Although I kind of wish I'd thought of that. We're taking her with us."

"Seriously? Why?" Peter couldn't imagine Morgan going to Hong Kong for a week. Tony could barely make it through a board meeting. Maybe he was planning on using Morgan as his excuse to escape.

"Pepper. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to take everyone out to California for the week. You could stay at the house. Ned could come down and the girls could go with you."

"You'd let us stay at Pepper's Malibu house for a week, by ourselves, with girls." Peter looked at his dad skeptically.

"Ok...well, Pepper's houses became my houses when we got married so stop calling it 'Pepper's house'. And you're all old enough not to do something stupid. Most kids your age are heading to a beach for a week and doing way worse. The house is secure so you don't have to worry about the press or anything else. What do you think?"

"I think that's an awesome idea. Thanks dad!" A week away would be great. He was pretty sure everyone would be on board.

Tony grinned, "Yeah. Just don't make me regret this."

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Three weeks later all five boys were on the jet with MJ and Jennifer headed towards California. Peter looked over at MJ who was in the co-pilot seat. FRIDAY was capable of taking off, flying, and landing but it tended to freak out air traffic control if there was no one in the cockpit so Peter handled take offs and landings. They had just left New Jersey's regional airport's airspace so Peter pulled the headphones off. "Ned's Spring Break isn't until the following week so he won't be able to hang out the whole time but he thought he could swing a couple nights."

"It'll be good to see Ned. I've emailed and texted him off an one since he left. He seems really happy out there, sounds like he's got a good group of friends that are all in the computer department." MJ tucked a leg up in the seat and looked out the window. The view was amazing but they were about to lose it in the clouds.

Peter frowned. He hadn't texted or emailed Ned nearly enough. He should have done better staying in touch. "Yeah, I can't wait to see him. I hope he's staying out of trouble. I think his roommate is one of the boys from that coding camp. He talked about him some over Winter Break." He glanced back at the group in the cabin of the jet. "Think Jennifer's doing ok or do we need to go rescue her?"

MJ shook her head. "Jennifer can more than handle the guys. Plus Wyatt's there...I don't think you realize how much they talk."

Peter shrugged. "Wyatt's a good guy. Other than the foot height difference between them they make a cute couple."

MJ reached over and playfully slapped him on the arm. "You have zero room to talk about any one's height." She smirked when he acted wounded. "So why don't you like the guy from the coding camp?"

"Ned didn't let that one leak?" Peter smiled at MJ's confused look. "He must be better at keeping secrets than I thought. The coding camp was a cover for some maniac's attempt to take over the would via computers. We had to rescue him. Full Avenger op. Even SHIELD showed up. That wasn't the bad part. A couple of the boys figured out what was going on and one of them uploaded a worm that Steve, Nat, and I had to go disarm. The one and only time I've worn something other than a Spider-Man suit. It was eating everything with technology or metal which is..."

"Which is your entire suit." MJ smirked.

Peter smiled. He was discovering that he liked taking to MJ about some of this stuff. The really bad stuff was still a work in progress and was definitely going to take time. But the rest of it...it as nice to have someone else in his life he could talk to. "Yep. I had so much Kevlar on I almost couldn't move. Which turned out to be a good thing. As a defensive measure it lowered the temperature. I was cold for a week."

Both of them turned around when Johnny poked his head up. "How long is our flight?"

"A little under 4 hours. Aren't you glad you're not flying commercial? This thing moves a little faster." Peter twisted fully around in his seat. "Everyone doing ok?"

Johnny nodded. "Did Tony say if there's beach access? Davis and I may run out to one of my storage units and grab some surf boards." He had spent a lot of time in California. Sue and Reed had a house out there which is where they lived prior to relocating to New York.

Peter shrugged. "All I know is that it's a house in Malibu. Dad said he had them leave two cars in the hanger so we won't have to squeeze into one."

Johnny shook his head. "I still can't believe he's letting us do this. Who in their right mind trusts this many 19 year olds in a house in Malibu unsupervised."

MJ laughed. "Good thing we're all responsible adults who won't do anything stupid. Plus, I think it's a reward for a job well done. I heard you all did good on that last mission."

Johnny shrugged, "All in a day's work I guess."


	92. Chapter 92 - California

The flight to California was easy. While the boys were taking care of the plane, MJ wandered through the hanger. "Found the cars!" She grinned as she walked over to the convertible Audi that was parked next to an SUV. She reached into the drivers seat and picked up the keys and a note addressed to Peter.

_"Don't do anything I would do, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. There's a little grey area in there. That's where you operate. Have fun kid!"_

She felt Peter walk up behind her. "This is clearly an inside joke."

Peter read the note over her shoulder and smiled. "It's what he said to me after we got back from Germany."

She held the keys out to him. "We're claiming this car. I've never ridden in a convertible before."

Peter took the keys, then put their bags in the trunk. He turned around and looked at the others. Johnny was arranging all of the luggage in the back of the SUV. "Wyatt?" Peter gestured to the black duffel bag Johnny was shoving into the back.

"What? You never know. I keep it on the plane. No reason not to just take it with us." Wyatt patted the bag as Johnny slid it into the back. The bag contained most of their ops gear, which really consisted of mainly Wyatt's and Davis's gear since the rest of them were pretty much self contained.

Peter shook his head and lowered his voice to a hushed whisper. "Whatever. Just don't let Jennifer go through it. It'll be a miracle if we make it through this week without her finding out something."

Johnny shut the back of the SUV. "You worry too much."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Address is programmed into the GPS. Don't wreck the car. We're going to go see Ned first. See you at the house." He headed back over to the convertible and slid behind the steering wheel. He looked over at MJ who was already in her seat. "Ready?"

Peter followed the SUV out of the hanger. Pasadena wasn't too far from the airport or Malibu and when they had talked to Ned he had said he had a study group tonight but had begged them to swing by before. Then they could make plans for the rest of the week.

MJ was incredibly thankful she had worn her hair up. Other than dealing with the wind the convertible was enjoyable. Peter loved driving the convertible. It was like swinging without the mask on but without the free fall. They were in Pasadena and wandering around the campus looking for the building Ned had told them to meet him at within the hour. Peter pulled open the door and followed MJ inside the building they thought was the correct one. After wandering in and out of several labs they finally located Ned.

"I can't believe you're here!" Ned crushed them both in a bear hug.

Peter frowned when he finally pulled back. "Ned, you look bad." MJ swatted his arm. "He's got bags under his eyes."

Ned shook his head. "We have a project due at the end of this week that's kicking our tails."

MJ looked at the screen and table behind him. "What's it on?"

Ned scrubbed his hand over his face. "Computer interface."

Peter frowned. "You can do that in your sleep."

"It's an interface with an organic component." Ned glanced back at the screen. "We're close."

"Ned...do not make another technovore." Peter crossed his arms and studied the screen behind Ned. He didn't recognize any of the code which he was taking as a good sign...maybe.

"We're not, although that's where we got the idea." Ned glanced over Peter's shoulder.

Still studying the screen, Peter asked, "We?"

"Basil Sandhurst. You must be Peter and MJ."

Peter was surprised he didn't end up on the ceiling. Since the spider bite no one had been able to enter a room without him knowing it and certainly not walk up behind him. Spinning around he fought the urge to assume a fighting stance. He wasn't sure if he was successful or not.

MJ looked over at Peter before smiling at Basil. "Yes." She reached down and grabbed Peter's hand. She could feel the tension in it. What time is your study group?" She glanced over at Ned who looked down at his watch.

"In ten minutes. What do you all have planned this week?"

"Absolutely nothing. We should meet for dinner or maybe you can just come out to the house? When are you free?" Peter looked away from Basil and focused on Ned.

"That will depend on the project. Maybe Monday night?" Ned thought through his schedule as he gathered his books up.

Peter watched Ned cram his books into his backpack. "Yeah. We can come to you if it's easier."

Ned wrapped them both in another bear hug. "It's good to see you guys. I'll text you when I get freed up." Ned walked out with Basil leaving MJ and Peter standing in the empty lab.

"That was weird, right?" Peter looked over at MJ who was frowning.

"I'm sure he's just busy." Forcing a smile on her face she grabbed his hand again. "Let's go see the house."

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* * *

Peter and MJ followed the GPS and pulled up to Pepper's house. It was about the size of the one in Hawaii. Parking in the front, Peter carried their bags in. Johnny, Davis, and Bobby had left to get surfboards out of Johnny's storage unit and got back about the same time as Peter and MJ. Tony had made sure the kitchen was stocked so they decided to grill out for dinner. After dinner Johnny and Davis couldn't wait to hit the water. There was a storm brewing off the coast so the waves were actually pretty good. Bobby went down to the beach with them. He had never surfed but Johnny and Davis both assured him that they'd have him up on a board by the end the week. Wyatt and Jennifer were walking on the beach which left Peter and MJ sitting on the balcony overlooking the beach.

"So what was that about earlier in the lab? I thought you were going attack Basil."

Peter looked over at MJ. "I didn't know he was there." He could tell she didn't know the significance of the statement. "Ever since getting bitten I always know when someone's near. I didn't." Peter frowned. "I should have, but I didn't."

MJ frowned. "What does that mean?"

Peter shrugged. "I have no idea. I have no idea how it works. All I know is that it ramps up when there's danger." Peter thought about it. "But I don't think it means there wasn't any danger. I don't like the guy."

MJ but her lip as she thought about the problem. "There was a lot of electrical equipment in there. Is it possible it was somehow interfering?"

Peter frowned. He hadn't thought that anything could interfere with it. It was a disturbing thought.

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* * *

Monday afternoon arrived with no response from Ned. Everyone was enjoying themselves. Bobby had gotten up on a surfboard earlier that day and found that he loved surfing. It wasn't that different from sliding on the ice ramps he could form. Both required a certain amount of balance. Peter couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong but he didn't know what to do about it. He finally got a text from Ned apologizing for not responding and said they had a breakthrough in the lab and had been tied up all day and maybe they could meet up Wednesday. It was enough to keep Peter from sleeping and after lying there staring at the ceiling he got up, got dressed, and silently made his way into the kitchen. Grabbing the keys to the SUV he was about to leave when Johnny walked into the room.

"Where are you going...at 2am." Johnny blinked again the clock on the microwave.

Peter sighed, ready to defend his idea. "I'm going to break into the lab and see if I can figure out what's going on with Ned."

"Give me two minutes and I'll go with you." Johnny turned to go back to his room to change, leaving Peter staring after him.

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* * *

Peter parked a ways from the lab building. They could go the rest of the way on foot to avoid anyone seeing their car close to the lab building. Making their way there Peter found the main door open and realized there were probably people in the labs at all hours. He hoped there was no one in the lab Ned and Basil were using. Seeing no one around, they made their way to the room Peter had been in before. Taking the darkness as a good sign they entered and looked around.

"What are you looking for?" Johnny asked as he looked through files on a table.

"I don't know. Something that tells me what they're up to. Something is off." Peter flipped through a stack of files. It was a lot of notes and comments with initials. The NL was obviously Ned, BS was Basil. There was a third one he didn't recognize - ZS.

"Maybe Ned is just different than he was in high school. I mean, none of us are the same as we were a year ago." Johnny picked up a piece of equipment to inspect it.

Peter wondered if Johnny was right. He and Ned had been so close before and now they barely talked. Things had just changed. They were both busy with school and life on opposite sides of the county. He looked up when he heard a "huh..."

"Or maybe they're tied in with our new fixer and are working on the controller interface for the bio tech." Johnny frowned as he looked at the piece of equipment in his hands.

"What?" Peter our down the file and walked over to stand next to Johnny and look at the equipment.

"Most mechanics and engineers have a signature. They use the same kind of materials, put stuff together that same way." Johnny looked over at Peter. "When I grabbed that guy's arm it was put together a lot like this. Look at the connection." He pointed to a series of wires. "That's not how most people would do this."

Peter stared at the piece of equipment in Johnny's hands. He was right. Thinking back to how he put stuff together, it was slightly different from the way his dad did. He looked back at the door when he heard a noise in the hall. "Ok. Let's dig into Basil and see what we can find out."


	93. Chapter 93 - Ned

MJ sat down next to Peter on the couch, coffee mug in hand. "Where did you go last night? I'm assuming it's why you're working."

Peter chuckled. If she hadn't had coffee in her hands she definitely would have put air quotes around 'working'. He turned off the tablet he had been looking at and put it on the table in front of him. "Johnny and I checked out the lab." He shifted on the sofa to look at her. "The tech that they're using is disturbingly similar to some tech we came across a couple weeks ago. I've been trying to see what I can come up with on both the tech and Basil."

MJ took a sip of coffee. "Any luck?"

Peter shook his head. "No. Basil has less of an internet presence than you do, which seems weird for a computer guy. And the tech is still unknown."

"So what are you going to do?"

Peter looked down at his lap. "I don't know. I mean I need to talk to Ned and see if I can find out what's going on." He picked up his phone. "I texted him this morning to see if we could get together sometime today and I haven't heard back."

MJ took a sip of coffee. "Ok. So if you don't hear from him we'll track him down."

Peter shook his head. "There's no 'we' in this. Until I know what's going on you're not coming with me." He looked over at her. "It's non negotiable. Being in the boxes is one thing. Going somewhere potentially dangerous is out." His eyes softened a little. "Please don't fight me on this. It's bad enough Ned is potentially messed up in this. I don't want you in it too."

MJ studied Peter. He was trying. "Ok as long as you keep me informed. He's my friend too. And, you don't go anywhere by yourself. Take Bobby with you if you go see him. He at least knows Ned so it won't be weird."

To Peter's surprise, Ned texted him back a couple hours later. They arranged to meet at a sandwich place in Pasadena. Keeping his word to MJ, he brought Bobby with him which meant explaining what he and Johnny had done last night.

"I can't believe Ned would be mixed up in this." Bobby commented as Peter pulled into the parking lot of the sandwich place. "He's a really good guy."

Peter nodded, turning off the engine. "He is. I think sometimes he gets into things without knowing all of the pieces." He still wasn't sure how he was going to broach the subject. He really didn't want to start lunch with 'so Ned, I broke into your lab last night and I think you're mixed up with some bad guys'. Hopefully something would come to him during lunch.

Ned arrived a few minutes after they did. "Hey guys! How's hanging out at the beach?"

"It's great! I'm learning to surf. It's almost as fun as snorkeling in Hawaii." Bobby greeted Ned with a hug. "You need to come out for the day."

"I wish. If we can get this project wrapped up maybe I can make Friday." Ned ordered his food after the other two.

"So tell me about the project. You said organic interface. What does that mean?" Peter sat down at an empty table, Ned and Bobby sitting across from him.

Ned thought about how to answer the question. "You know how Tony can control the nanotech armor but Rhodey can't? This is something that could bridge the gap for everyone who doesn't have a brain that can do it on its own."

Peter thought through the process. "What's the ultimate application?"

Ned shrugged. "I think it's more about seeing if we can do it. From there the application could be endless. Everything from military application to prosthetic application."

"How on earth are you controlling it." Bobby was reaching the limit of his knowledge in the area. His major was strictly mathematics. He could probably work the math behind it but not the interface and definitely not the biologic side. But, if he asked questions it would seem less like Peter was grilling Ned.

"It's tied into the brain stem." Ned took a bite of his sandwich. "It's a little complex. Basil is good with organics though."

Peter stared at his sandwich. Brain stem interface. That's exactly what the new fixer was doing. He frowned and looked up. "Won't that allow for the possibility of someone else to take control?"

Ned shrugged. "I've got a bunch of code built in that won't allow that to happen."

"But it could be overridden." Peter couldn't help himself. This was pretty much a nightmare scenario for him. With his abilities, if someone else took control there's no end to the damage he could do.

Ned looked at Peter. "Why is this bothering you so much."

"Ned, you know why it's bothering me." Peter was frustrated that Ned didn't see the danger in what he was doing.

Bobby looked between the two. "Both of you cool it." He looked at Ned. "Just be careful and make sure you have enough controls in place." He grinned to break the tension. "You're smart enough when it comes to computers that you have it handled, right?"

Ned shifted his eyes from Peter to Bobby. "I'm not doing anything nefarious. The goal is to give people with prosthetics more control."

"See Peter. Nothing nefarious." Bobby refrained from kicking Peter under the table.

Peter forced a smile. "Ned, I know you have good intentions. The idea of somebody controlling someone else just freaks me out a little. Sorry."

Ned forced a smile on his face too. "I know. Sorry I'm edgy. The last couple weeks have been pretty rough."

"So even if you aren't done, we're planning on coming to kidnap you on Friday and you're spending the day at the beach with us." Bobby picked up his drink and took a sip.

Ned finished his sandwich. "That sounds like a plan. Which means I probably need to go back to the lab and see if I can finish up." He stood up and waited for Peter and Bobby to stand up. He gave Bobby a quick hug. Then looked at Peter. "I promise I'm not doing anything."

Peter leaned over and hugged him. "I know. I miss you Ned." He let go. "We're serious about kidnapping you Friday."

Ned smiled and nodded. "I'll see you Friday then."

Bobby and Peter watched him walk out of the sandwich shop then followed, climbing into the SUV. Bobby glanced over at Peter. "Well?"

"Whatever this is he's not doing it on purpose but he is more stressed than I've seen him." Peter pulled out of the parking space and merged into traffic. Both he and Bobby missed the dark colored car parked a couple spaces down from them.

"We may have a problem." Basil spoke into his cell phone.

"We knew it was risky using him but you couldn't find anyone else with the same skill set." The voice on the other end was cold.

"I think they know what's going on. If they were involved when the Avengers picked up our friend then they know too much." Basil had known using Ned was risky but with the expectation put on him he hadn't had another option.

"Just finish the project. If he's an obstacle then neutralize him. You have the information you need. All I care about is delivery."


	94. Chapter 94 - Date Night

Peter couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. After being on edge all day after seeing Ned he called Steve that night and filled him in. "I need you to find everything you can on Basil Sandhurst."

"Isn't that the kid from the computer camp? The one that created that mess with Technovore?" Steve was already typing the name into the computer.

Natasha leaned over his shoulder and switched the call over to speaker. "Do you want me to come to California? You're supposed to be on vacation."

"Nat, do not come to California. I just want to find out about this guy. Oh, and let me know if you come across anyone with the initials ZS connected to him. They were in the lab notes." Peter looked up when Wyatt walked in. He waited to speak again once he was sure Jennifer wasn't with him. "I'll let you know if we come across anything else."

"Peter, have you told Tony what's going on?" Steve asked, already knowing that he hadn't called Tony.

"I am not calling him about this. It could end up being nothing but you know the second I call he's on a jet to California." Peter turned and looked at Wyatt who was chuckling. "Let me know what you find."

Wyatt waited for Peter to hang up. "Your dad would just take the armor. He wouldn't even bother with the plane."

Peter knew Wyatt was probably right which is why he hadn't called his dad. He was about 85% sure Nat and Steve wouldn't call either. "Where is everyone."

"Watching a movie. It started raining so we opted to come in." Wyatt looked at Peter. So far he had spent most of the week wrapped up in the mess with Ned. "You're going to need a vacation from your vacation. Let it go for right now and go cuddle with MJ on the couch. It'll do you some good."

Peter sighed and followed Wyatt back into the living room. Squeezing next to MJ he propped his feet up on the coffee table and let her lean against him. He realized about 30 minutes into the movie he had no idea what they were watching nor did he know what was going on. His tablet was sitting on the table behind the sofa just out of reach. Making sure Jennifer wasn't looking in his direction he formed the web shooter, flicked a web onto the tablet and pulled it towards him. He grinned at MJ when she glared over her should at him. She adjusted enough so he could hold the tablet behind her and read. Soon he was logged into a SHIELD database Nat had gotten him into, reading what he could about Basil Sandhursts' 'known associates'. He was a little surprised to see Ned listed. Basil had been under SHIELD surveillance since the computer camp incident. SHEILD had several levels of surveillance. Basil was being observed at the lowest level. Just enough to know where he was.

The lack of information was frustrating at best. He texted Ned a couple times the next day just to check on him. He purposely didn't say a word about the project. Nat and Steve hadn't really found anything yet either. Around lunch, Ned texted him telling him they had been able to finish the project and were just testing now so he might be able to spend both Thursday and Friday with them. Ned sounded almost normal again which made Peter feel extraordinarily better.

"So now you can let this go for the night, right?" Wyatt looked at him from in front of the refrigerator where he was pulling out sandwich stuff for lunch. "Johnny, Davis, and Bobby want to go out tonight to some club they found. You would hate it so we thought maybe you, MJ and Jennifer and I could go out to eat. You know...like an actual double date."

Peter looked over at MJ who was sitting at the table talking to Jennifer. She had been incredibly patient and understanding the whole week. Fancy dinners weren't necessarily her thing but an idea popped into his head of something she would love. "Ok, but before dinner I want to take MJ to this thing I saw earlier." Peter sat down next to MJ. "Want to go do a walking tour of famous Hollywood murders? There's a whole part on the Black Dahlia murder. Then we could go have dinner with Wyatt and Jennifer."

MJ grinned. "That sounds great!" She looked over at Jennifer. "Murder tour. Are you in?"

Jennifer smiled. "Of course!"

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* * *

Peter and Wyatt didn't hate the murder tour. If Peter were honest, he probably liked MJ enjoying the tour way more than he liked the tour itself which was all that really mattered in his mind. Wyatt had found a low key but nice restaurant for dinner, which was surprisingly enjoyable. He and MJ hadn't been out on an actual date since getting back together. For the first time in a really long time he felt like a normal 19 year old.

Leaving the restaurant they headed towards the SUV. Rounding the corner to the parking lot Peter stopped short. "Ned?" Peter was surprised to see his friend but the vacant look on Ned's face caused him to tense up. His Spidey sense definitely should have been going off. But it wasn't. Just like when Basil surprised him in the lab. He missed Ned pressing his hand against his chest until it was too late. His body convulsed and he collapsed as Ned triggered the handheld taser.

Wyatt hadn't missed the three men with Ned but it all happened so fast all he could do was push Ned to the ground and away from Peter but the damage was already done. He barely had time to register his friends completely still body before he found himself in the middle of a fight. He was gaining the upper hand on two of the men until the third man caught his attention. He had a gun pointed at Peter's head. MJ was on the ground next to Peter and Jennifer was next to her. Then he felt a tremendous amount of pain in his head before blacking out.


	95. Chapter 95 - Options

Wyatt woke up with a miserable pounding in his head. He blinked to try to clear the fog but was met with a sharp pain. He let out a groan in response.

"Wyatt?"

He tried to look in the direction of the voice. "Jen? What...Peter!" He tried to sit up as the memory of Peter lying crumpled on the ground came rushing back only to be hit with an overwhelming waive of nausea.

Jennifer pushed his head back into her lap. "He's still unconscious." She looked over at MJ who was sitting next to Peter with her hands on his chest. Jennifer could see the matching zip tie holding MJ's wrists together. She looked back down at Wyatt. "We're pretty sure you have a concussion. I think I got the bleeding to stop."

He looked between MJ and Jennifer. "Are you two ok?"

MJ and Jennifer both nodded. "We're fine."

Wyatt glanced around the room. "Where are we?"

MJ spoke from across the room. "It feels like some kind of storage room." She glanced up at the window. "Door is obviously locked. Windows have bars."

"How is he?" Wyatt tried to turn his head to look at Peter.

MJ shrugged. "Still unconscious. He hasn't woken up yet but he's still breathing."

Wyatt looked back up at Jennifer. "Help me sit up."

"Are you sure?" Jennifer frowned. Wyatt still looked pretty bad.

"No. But do it anyway." His wrists were similarly zip tied which meant he had to rely way more than he wanted to on Jennifer to maneuver him into a sitting position. "Ok, walk me through what happened." His head still hurt but he slightly less foggy than he was before.

"We were walking out of the restaurant and ran into Peter's friend Ned. He had some kind of taser in his hand and hit Peter in the chest with it." Jennifer looked across at Peter and MJ. Peter hadn't moved since they were shoved into the small room.

"Ned had something on the back of his neck." MJ looked at Wyatt. She hadn't said anything to Jennifer yet but she wasn't sure how they were going to get out of this without her finding out. "I think it was the controller tech you all were looking into. Then you fought off two of them until the third one pointed a gun at Peter's head."

Wyatt nodded. It was starting to come back. He shifted slightly against the wall only to have pain shoot through his head. "How long was I out?"

MJ glanced down at her watch. "A couple hours. It's a little after midnight."

Wyatt looked over at Peter. "Why is he in cuffs instead of zip ties like the rest of us?"

"My guess is they know who he is." MJ reached down and brushed her fingers across them. "I'm pretty sure they're vibranium. I saw some when I was in Africa last summer."

"Great." Wyatt pulled his wrists to test the zip ties. He didn't think he had enough leverage to break them.

Jennifer looked between MJ and Wyatt. "You two owe me a really big explanation when we get out of here."

MJ and Wyatt's response was cut off by the groan coming from Peter. "Peter?" MJ leaned over Peter so she could see if he was waking up.

"I feel like crap." Peter hadn't opened his eyes yet. He could feel MJ leaning over him.

"You got hit with a taser. I think you're heart is probably out of rhythm." MJ leaned closer. "Can you open your eyes please?"

Peter opened a single eye and glanced up at MJ. "We do not have a great track record with dates."

MJ let out a laugh and leaned over and pressed her head against Peter's chest. Leaning back up she looked down into both eyes. "What do you need?"

"An IV and a couple days to sleep. I don't think I'm getting either." He glanced around the room. "Wyatt?"

"I'm good."

Jennifer snorted in response. "What? How is this good? You have a concussion. I don't know how Peter isn't dead. This is not good."

Wyatt shifted to look at Jennifer. "We'll be fine. Trust me." He tipped his head forward against her forehead. "Trust me."

Peter tried to move his arms and realized he was handcuffed. He held them up to his face and let out a sigh when he realized he wasn't getting out of them. Reaching down he pulled MJ's wrists up. Inspecting the zip tie he applied a little pressure and snapped it, freeing her wrists. He glanced over at Wyatt. "You two are going to have to come to me. I don't think I can sit up yet." He knew from experience that sitting up would be bad. As long as he stayed flat the dizziness was bearable. Maybe if he gave it a little more time he could manage long enough to get them all out of here.

Jennifer stood up, using the wall to brace herself. After struggling to get Wyatt to his feet and failing she leaned over, "I'll be back in a sec."

She walked over and knelt next to Peter and watched him break the zip tie effortlessly. "How did you do that?"

Peter shrugged and looked up at MJ. "Can you help her get Wyatt over here?"

MJ nodded, stood up and followed Jennifer over to Wyatt. Each grabbing an arm they pulled him to his feet.

"Yeah, I should have just scooted over." Wyatt blinked a couple times trying to clear his vision. Thankfully the room wasn't very large so he quickly slid down the wall and landed next to Peter. Holding out his arms he waited for Peter to snap the zip ties. "Options?"

"I can probably get us out of the room but I'm not going to be overly helpful in a fight." In his current position he really couldn't test his stickiness but based on what happened last time he was pretty sure it was unreliable at best. He scanned the room again. No cameras. He looked over at MJ and Jennifer who had sat down on the other side of him. "Any idea where we are?"

MJ shook her head. "After Wyatt was knocked out they threw us all in the back of a van. No windows. Maybe a 30 minute drive. When we got here they had backed the van up to the building so there wasn't really an opportunity to see much. A couple trees to the right and just building to the left. Hallway from the door to this room passed a couple other rooms. We did have to turn a corner to get here. In addition to the three that grabbed us I saw maybe two or three others."

"You got all of that while being dragged down a hall?" Jennifer turned to stare at her.

Peter smirked. "She's observant." He looked back at MJ. "Ned?"

MJ shook her head again. "After Wyatt pushed him away from you I lost track of him. He wasn't in the van nor did I see him when we got here." She took a deep breath knowing that her comment was going to elicit questions from Jennifer. "I think they used the controller tech on him. He had something on the back of his neck."

Peter pulled up his hands again and looked at his watch. The electricity had fried most of it. He tried to form the web shooter on the other wrist and couldn't make it work. He glanced up at MJ. "I'm assuming you tried the panic button?"

She nodded and smirked. "In the van. It's when I realized it was fried."

Peter looked back over at Wyatt. "I can get us out of the room but I don't know if I want to risk trying to run with the girls. Last time I got hit with electricity Bucky and dad had to carry me to the Quinjet. It doesn't feel as bad this time but I'm still not functioning at 100%." He looked at Wyatt's head and added "Neither are you."

Wyatt nodded in agreement. "Bobby, Johnny, and Davis won't realize anything is wrong until they get home or possibly not even until the morning."

Peter sucked in a breath. "So our options are to wait and see what happens, try to escape, or figure out how to reach the rest of the team."

Wyatt nodded. "I don't like option 1 or 2. Think any of the nanobots are still functioning?"

Jennifer looked at MJ and then at Peter and Wyatt. "What team? What are you taking about?"

Wyatt cringed and looked over at Jennifer. "I promise I will tell you everything when we get out of here."

MJ reached over and grabbed Jennifer's hand. "Let them figure it out, Ok? It'll be fine."

Jennifer stared at MJ. "How are you not freaked out by this? We were kidnapped off the street."

Peter looked up at Jennifer. "This isn't a kidnapping. It'll be ok." He looked back at Wyatt. "Help me try to sit up."

Wyatt reached under his shoulder and helped pull him up. MJ slid next to Peter to give him a little more support. Together they maneuvered him against the wall.

Head spinning Peter pulled his knees up and dropped his head to rest on them. Focusing on breathing he could feel his heart beating in an uneven rhythm. Fighting through it he lifted his head and held his wrists out to MJ. "Can you take my watch off? And the bracelet."

MJ maneuvered the bracelet off and started unfastening the watch. Once it was off she handed them back to Peter.

Peter looked between Wyatt and MJ. "Which of you wants the web-shooter."

"I'm assuming MJ has played with them before? Give it to her."

Peter nodded and handed the bracelet back to MJ. Once it was on her wrist he triggered the manual button, hoping it hadn't gotten fried. The web shooter formed seamlessly across her wrist and hand. MJ had played with the web shooters more than he would probably ever admit to his dad. There had been a 'talk' at one point about how they weren't toys after he and Ned had spun a hammock and a fort in his room at the apartment. Right now he was glad MJ had experience using them. He smiled as she tested it by firing a web, attaching it to the door knob.

"What the hell." Jennifer looked at Peter. "You're Spider-Man?"

"Yes." Peter thought that keeping the answer short was best right now. "Ok, anyone have anything on them that I could potentially use as a screw driver?"

Wyatt and the girls dug through their pockets. Jennifer was the only one with anything close which was a hair pin. She shrugged, "I read too much Nancy Drew as a kid. I always have a hair pin."

Peter leaned his head back and tried to focus on the back of the watch. It had a micro arc reactor in it. It would have survived the electricity. He was hoping there would be a few wires that he could use to basically hot wire something.

MJ reached over and took the hair pin and watch from him. "Neither you nor Wyatt can focus. Tell me what to do."

Peter leaned his head back and closed his eyes, guiding her through taking the watch apart from memory. Once she had the arc reactor and the wiring exposed he leaned forward again and tried to focus on the wires. Instead the dizziness got worse and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Jennifer, hold this." MJ gently placed the watch into Jennifer's palm. "Peter, look at me." She forced his head up and locked eyes with him. "I'm going to pinch your nose and I want you to try to force air through your nose. I know it's weird but I took more biology classes than you did." She reached forward and pinched his nose and watched him make a face trying to follow instructions.

"Holy crap that worked." Peter looked at her and took a deep breath.

MJ shrugged. "It's not going to fix the damage but it'll force your heart back in rhythm. It stimulates a nerve that forces it to synch back up."

Peter leaned forward and looked at the watch housing and wires. Most of them were fried.

"What are you thinking?" Wyatt leaned over and looked at what they had to work with.

"Using the arc reactor to power something long enough to send a message to Johnny. GPS coordinate preferably." The watch had the ability, Peter just needed to isolate the component parts. He started to work on striping out the parts until he had a pile of good wiring and various chips and boards he thought weren't too damaged. Having to pause every couple minutes to breath and force his heart back into rhythm was starting to drain him. He didn't want to know how long it took him but he finally got it wired. He looked over at Wyatt who had his head against the wall and his eyes closed. "What do you think. SOS and GPS coordinates?"

Wyatt nodded without opening his eyes. "If they can't decipher that we need to go through some remedial training."

Peter paused before triggering the signal. "Crap." He held up his hand to keep everyone quiet. He had been trying to listen for voices. Until now they had been too far away to hear clearly.

_"What are we doing with them?"_

_"Kill them. We almost have everything loaded."_

_"What if Parker is awake and the other one are awake?"_

_"Then you'll have to move fast won't you."_

Peter triggered the signal and looked at Wyatt. "We've got to move. Now."


	96. Chapter 96 - Good Timing

Wyatt and Peter moved incredibly fast considering how injured they were. Moving to the door, Peter listened for movement. Not hearing anyone directly on the other side he turned to look at the girls. "Stay behind us. MJ, if you have an opening fire a web at their feet but do not move from behind me. Do you understand?"

MJ nodded. She understood what Peter was saying. Peter was her shield and she hated it but she knew the alternative would destroy him. She grabbed Jennifer's hand and squeezed.

Peter looked at Wyatt who nodded. Putting pressure on the doorknob Peter broke the mechanism and opened it just enough that he could see out. Seeing no one he opened it further and stepped into the hall. "Stay and let me check it out." He whispered and headed down the hall in the direction MJ had indicated they had entered. Getting to the corner where it turned into the hall they came in through, he pressed his back against the wall. Testing his stickiness he tried to attach a hand to the wall. There was some stickiness but it wasn't enough to be reliable. He could hear voices so he knew this way wasn't going to be an option, but he wanted to know what they were up against. Straining to catch his breath he paused long enough to force his heart back in synch before peering around the corner. Six men, all with guns. Great.

Making his way back to the room, he nodded his head toward the other direction. He didn't like that they wouldn't know where they were going but there's no way he and Wyatt could make it through the other way and he didn't know how long it would take the rest of the team to respond. Wyatt moved out in front. Peter kept the girls in front of him putting himself between them and the six men with guns. He really missed the buzz of his Spidey sense right now. He couldn't figure out why it wasn't working but it would have been incredibly helpful in the current situation. He also wished his hands weren't cuffed together but that he could deal with. He could see a turn in the hall ahead. Judging from the sounds behind them he hoped they could get there before the men turned the corner and spotted them.

Wyatt knew they needed to move so he grabbed Jennifer's hand and pulled her along behind him. He knew Peter and MJ would keep up. Rounding the corner he glanced over his shoulder and let out a sigh of relief before continuing on. Peter and MJ had made it around the corner and there hadn't been any sound of alarm. The new hallway looked exactly like the old hallway. His goal was to put as much distance between them and the guys with guns. He could see a branching corridor ahead of him and quickened his pace. Choosing left, he rounded the corner to hear a cry from behind him and the sound of feet running.

"They know we're out." Peter hissed as he pushed MJ around the corner. They all ran down the hall seeing another branching corridor ahead. Wyatt skidded to a stop and stared at the wall. It took a second for Peter to realize what he was doing.

Wyatt stared at the fire escape map. They were in the middle of the building. He quickly plotted out a course and took off again, making a quick right at the next corridor. The girls followed by Peter skidded around the corner. Peter waived them on, hanging back to see if he could gauge where their pursuers were.

Two men appeared at the other end of the hall. Peter waited to see if any more would follow. When they didn't he quietly made his way toward Wyatt and the girls. Trying to force his heart back into synch was getting harder and harder to do but he didn't have much choice other than to press on. He caught up to them at another hallway intersection. "They split up."

Wyatt nodded and continued to lead them through the building. He had seen enough of the map to know that splitting up meant that they could intersect them if they got lucky. He also knew they were two turns away from the hall that would lead them outside so he opted to keep going instead of trying to find somewhere to hide. Approaching the branch in the corridor he slowed down so he could see around the corner. He poked his head out enough to see that two of the men had entered the hall. They had apparently spotted the movement because they opened fire and peppered the hallway with bullets.

The girls and Peter had caught up to him. "There's two of them." He looked at Peter. They both knew the two behind them would catch up with them and they'd be trapped between the two.

"I'll draw their fire, you get the girls out." Peter didn't wait for Wyatt's and MJ's protest. He moved past them, pausing briefly before darting out into the opening. He thought he could cause enough of a distraction that they could get across the opening and into the other corridor. As he moved out into the open he felt a rush of of heat on one side of him and a rush of cold on the other.

Wyatt almost let out a cry of joy. Johnny and Bobby were deflecting all of the bullets allowing Wyatt to move the girls across the opening. He grabbed Peter as he crossed moving him out of the way as well.

Davis met them on the other side, grabbing the girls and pulling them along. He tossed Wyatt a gun. "I can't create a portal in here. Something is blocking it."

Johnny and Bobby neutralized the two that had been firing and joined the group. Johnny, still glowing in yellowish red flames looked down at Peter's wrists. He grabbed the cuffs and held onto them until the metal melted into his hands.

Peter rubbed his wrists. "Good timing guys." He looked to the side as he saw MJ fire a web back down the hall they had just been in. Their pursuers had caught up with them. Peter yanked MJ behind himself and Johnny. "We need to get out."

Johnny nodded and turned to take care of the two in the hallway, amused that one was already tangled up in webs. Apparently the sight of someone on fire was terrifying to the one left standing because he took off running in the opposite direction. Johnny shrugged who looked over at Bobby who was in the process of forming an ice prison around the one MJ had webbed as well as the other two.

Wyatt, Davis, Peter, and the girls had started moving toward the exit. Davis pushed open the doors and led the girls out. He knew how far away he had to get from the building in order to form a portal. Wyatt followed the girls, checking the area around them for signs of hostiles.

Peter waited at the door for Johnny and Bobby. They were both almost to the door when he heard a burst of gunfire behind him. He spun around in time to see Wyatt firing back at a group of men using a half wall as cover.

Bobby threw up an ice wall blocking the hostiles and providing cover for the three of them to leave the building and regroup with the others. Bobby and Johnny realized half way there that Peter wasn't going to make it on his own and carried him between them. Davis led them a little further and glanced behind them. Seeing a group exiting the building and begin shooting, he quickly opened a portal. Grabbing MJ's hand he pulled her after him. Wyatt pushed Jennifer through and followed knowing that Bobby and Johnny were behind him with Peter.

Peter glanced around the area they had portaled to as the airport hanger. "We've got to find Ned." He pushed himself off Bobby and Johnny only to almost lose his balance. Johnny steadied him and put an arm under his shoulder.

"You're tagging out. Nat said if either of you are hurt we are to get on the plane and get back to the compound. You can't even stand up on your own and both you and Wyatt are bleeding." Johnny dragged him up the stairs of the plane.

Peter didn't remember anything happening that would make him bleed. He tried pushing against Johnny again. "I need to find Ned."

"You need to not die." Johnny shoved him in a seat. Bobby had gone up to the cockpit and was already getting FRIDAY ready to take off. "Steve and Nat are a couple hours out. There's a local SHIELD team already on the ground. You're done." He turned and made sure everyone was on board. "FRIDAY take off. Let Nat and Tony know we have them and are in route to the compound." He looked over at MJ who was already pulling medical equipment out. "Can you handle him?"

Nodding, MJ sat next to Peter and put the auto IV on his arm. Once hooked up she slid an oxygen mask over his face and started looking for where the blood on his shirt was coming from. "Peter, look at me." She waited for the brown eyes to turn in her direction although she could tell he couldn't focus on her. "I think a bullet grazed your side. I need to take a look." Not waiting for a response she pulled the side of his shirt up and found the wound. Once she cleaned the blood off she realized it wasn't too bad. Slapping a bandage over it to stop the bleeding she focused on Peter again. His eyes were closed and she had a moment of panic until she realized his chest was moving under her hand. Letting out the breath she had unconsciously been holding she sat back and looked around the cabin of the plane. She could see Bobby in the cockpit making sure they had cleared LA airspace and that FRIDAY had their flight under control. Johnny and Davis were working on Wyatt who was similarly unconscious and reclined in one of the seats that doubled as a bed for long flights. Jennifer was in a chair staring at the chaos around her. MJ knew she needed to talk to her, explain to her, but right now she didn't have the energy.

"MJ, Dr. Cho would like an update if you're in a position to give her one."

MJ jumped a little when FRIDAY's voice echoed next to her ear. "Sure FRIDAY. Ummm...how do I talk to her."

"Put the headset next to you on and I'll patch her in."

MJ complied with FRIDAY's instructions and heard Dr. Cho's voice in her ear.

"MJ. It's Dr. Cho. First thing...are you ok? Are you hurt?"

MJ had to applaud Dr. Cho's bedside manner. She was calm which was definitely appreciated right now. "I'm fine Dr. Cho. I think Peter and Wyatt are the only two that are hurt. They're both unconscious. I have Peter hooked up to one of his IV bags, oxygen mask on. He got hit with a taser last night and his heart has been out of synch ever since. He also has a wound on his side. I cleaned it up and bandaged it. It looks like it's just a bullet graze."

"Perfect MJ. Can you do me one more favor? There should be a device in one of the cabinets that's about the size of your hand. I need you to attach it to Peter's chest so FRIDAY can stream his vitals to me."

MJ located the device and attached it to Peter's chest.

"Thanks. I'm getting his readings. Ok. Now tell me how Wyatt is doing."

MJ walked over to Wyatt and pulled the headset back. "Dr. Cho wants an update."

Davis held out his hand for the headset and put it on. "IV is in, concussion from last night, bullet in his shoulder." He looked over at MJ. "Can you find another monitor."

MJ returned with another monitor and placed it on Wyatt's chest. Satisfied it was transmitting correctly she sat back down in the chair next to Peter. If it weren't for the oxygen mask he looked like he was simply sleeping. Bobby walked out of the cockpit and sat next to her.

"How is he?"

"Unconscious. Wyatt too. Davis said Wyatt has a bullet lodged in his shoulder. Peter just got grazed." She lifted her eyes from Peter's face. "How long is the flight back?"

"FRIDAY is pushing the engines. I think we probably have another two hours though." Bobby looked over at MJ. "Are you ok?"

MJ nodded. "I'm glad you all got there when you did."

Bobby grimaced. "I wish we had known something was wrong earlier." He glanced over at Jennifer. "She looks completely freaked out."

MJ sighed and looked over at Jennifer. Bobby was right. And, she knew she needed to do something about it. "Keep an eye on him?" Standing, she walked over and sat down next to Jennifer.

"How are you so calm?" Jennifer looked over at MJ. "I mean you just patched up a bullet hole in Peter's side."

MJ shrugged, "Benefit of knowing who and what he is. I stitched up a knife wound a couple years ago too."

"What are they. I mean Johnny bursts into flames, Bobby turns to ice, Peter is Spider-Man, I don't know what the hell Davis does. What does Wyatt do?" Jennifer couldn't process what she had just seen. She didn't know what to do with it.

"Wyatt has the incredible distinction of being one of the few people on the planet that can land a hit on Black Widow. I know you can't really appreciate that but it's a rare thing." She looked around the cabin. "They're the next Avengers. The ones that'll keep us safe the same way Iron Man and Captain America have." She turned and looked at Jennifer. "They're special and amazing and it's an incredibly hard life to live. You'll have to decide if Wyatt is worth it. Either way, I need you to understand how important it is to keep their identities secret. Who they are and what they do...no one can know."

Jennifer looked around her again and nodded.


	97. Chapter 97 - At The Compound

Johnny thought FRIDAY probably set a record for getting cross country. They arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Dr. Cho and the rest of the Avengers had plenty of forewarning and he was pretty sure the door was open before the jet had come to a complete stop. Bucky was in the cabin first followed by Dr. Cho and her team.

"All of you are to report to Med Bay to be checked out before being released for a debrief." Dr. Cho glared at Bucky. This had been a point of discussion for the last 30 minutes. He wanted intel which she understood but she had dealt with stubborn superheros for way too long. Everyone was getting checked out. She glanced at all of them waiting for them to move only to realize that the age of 19 was apparently a whole other level of stubbornness. She understood immediately that they weren't letting Peter and Wyatt out of their sight. "At least move out of the way so we can load them on stretchers." She looked over at two of the med techs. "Take Wyatt first. Imaging and then prep for surgery." She glanced at the group who had at least moved out to the back and were apparently deciding who was going to stay with each patient. Jennifer followed Johnny and Davis off the plane with Wyatt leaving MJ, Bobby, and Bucky with Peter.

MJ watched as they loaded Peter onto a stretcher. She glanced over at Bucky. "Have they found Ned yet?"

Bucky nodded. "He was at a local hospital listed as a John Doe. They want to remove the controller devise before bringing him back so they're arranging to do it out there." Bucky looked down at MJ. "So far he doesn't remember anything."

MJ let out a sigh of relief. "Peter will be glad to hear he's ok."

"Have you talked to Tony?" Bucky followed MJ and Bobby off the plane.

"About an hour ago. He said he was about 3 hours behind us." MJ had not particularly enjoyed that conversation simply because she knew how upset Tony was even though he had been masterful at hiding it. There wasn't anything she could tell him that would have made him feel better.

Bucky followed MJ to MedBay. He had Dr. Cho's team check MJ out first then Jennifer so Bucky and Sam could debrief them about their last 24 hours. Bucky definitely wanted to talk to MJ by herself first. None of them knew Jennifer so they didn't know what to expect. He also wanted to try to time it so MJ could get back to Peter's room by the time he was done being evaluated and treated.

MJ knew she was fine but understood why she had to be checked out. She had years of dealing with Peter downplaying injuries and she imagined the rest of the Avengers were just as bad. Once given a clean bill of health she followed Bucky to one of the conference rooms.

"Do we need to worry about Jennifer?"

MJ shrugged. "I talked to her on the plane but she's still in shock. It's a lot to take in. 24 hours ago she was dating a normal guy from MIT and now she's drowning in the reality of the world we live in. But I do think she'll keep their secret." She walked Bucky through the events since dinner last night. It was hard for her to fathom that it had been less than 24 hours. Bucky was a lot more forthcoming with information than she expected him to be. By the time Jennifer walked in he had told her Basil hadn't been found but they recovered some files related to the controller technology. They also thought they may know what was interfering with Peter's Spidey sense and Davis's inability to create a portal in close proximity to the building but they needed to get Tony's input on some of it because quite honestly the tech was over their head.

Jennifer walked in and sat next to MJ. She had also been given a clean bill of health. MJ thought she looked a little less shell shocked. MJ hoped it might be partially because Wyatt was out of surgery and was currently in recovery. Wyatt and Jennifer were good together and she thought Jennifer could actually adjust to this life.

Jennifer's account was pretty much the same as MJ's but with fewer details. It didn't take Bucky long to figure out he had all the information the two girls could offer and he released them.

Walking out Jennifer grabbed MJ's arm. "I want you to know I heard what you told me on the plane. I understand the need to protect them. I won't betray that."

MJ smiled. "Thanks. I thought maybe once you had time to process you'd be ok." She looked over at her while they waited for the elevator. "And Wyatt?"

"Wyatt and I apparently have some things to discuss so the jury is still out on that one." Jennifer followed MJ into the elevator. "But I think those things might be worth discussing." She looked over at MJ and returned the smile. "So we'll see."

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* * *

Tony walked down the hall towards Peter's room in MedBay. He had spent the entire flight rotating between talking to Dr. Cho, Nat, and Bucky so he was mostly up to speed with the situation. Now all he wanted was to see Peter. Being told your son had been electrocuted...again and shot...again was nerve wracking when you were halfway across the globe. He pulled the door open and froze at the sight in front of him. MJ was curled up against Peter's side, sound asleep. It was a sight that reminded him that Peter was no longer the 14 year old boy he had taken to Germany. He had grown into the man Tony knew he could become. It was a bittersweet moment and Tony realized he didn't want to wake MJ which meant he wasn't going to go park himself next to Peter's bed. At least not yet. He stayed at the door long enough to assure himself that Peter was alive and breathing on his own and that the heart monitor wasn't quite as irrational as it had been the first time he had been hit with electricity then retreated. He looked down at the three boys sitting in the hallway with their backs against the walls. "You're not moving are you?"

Johnny looked up. "No sir."

Tony nodded and walked towards Dr. Cho's office. "FRIDAY find someone to move three comfortable chairs into the hallway outside Peter and Wyatt's rooms and get someone to bring Johnny, Bobby, and Davis some food." He walked into Dr. Cho's office.

Dr. Cho looked up when Tony walked in and frowned. "I'm surprised you're not in Peter's room."

Tony shrugged, "MJ was asleep and I didn't want to wake her."

"Good. She was starting to crash last time I saw her." She studied Tony's expression. "You're handling this a whole lot better than I expected you to."

Tony shrugged. "He's alive. I panicked enough on the plane. Seeing him breathing on his own in person put some of the panic to rest." He sat down in the chair across from her desk. "How much damage did he do?"

"You need to invent something that protects him against electricity. He's young and the Spider will probably repair all of the damage but if he's not careful he's going to end up with just as much heart damage as you have." Dr. Cho sat back in her chair and looked at Tony. "It would be helpful if we knew how much he got hit with. Did they find the taser device when they found Ned?"

Tony shook his head. "No. But I can give you a baseline. This watch was rated for a certain amount of electricity. The fact that most of the components were fried tells me that it was a pretty high charge. I think Wyatt pushing Ned off of Peter was probably what prevented more damage from happening." Some thoughts were rolling around in his head but he needed to talk to Peter first. Something about using Ned to attack him with a taser didn't sit right with him. "How is Wyatt?"

"He'll recover. I'll have to figure out some way to rehab him in Boston. I think I can get him ready to head back by Sunday night by using the cradle technology but he'll still need somewhere in Boston to do therapy for maybe a week."

"Whatever you need Helen. How's his head?" Tony thought through different things he could set up in Boston.

"Apparently his head is just as hard as the rest of your heads. I expected him to have a skull fracture but his X-rays came back clean. He'll just have a really bad headache for a couple days."

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* * *

Wanting to give MJ some time to sleep Tony headed to ops. "What's the latest?"

Bucky and Sam looked up in confusion when Tony walked in. "Why aren't you camped out in Peter's room?"

"MJ was asleep and I didn't want to wake her. When are Steve and Nat planning on coming back?" Tony sat down and started flipping through the information compiled on the tablet in front of him.

"They took off about 30 minutes ago. SHIELD is going to bring Ned back in a couple days." Bucky put another tablet in front of Tony. "As long as you're not holed up in Peter's room, take a look at this."

Tony picked up the second tablet and started reading. "This explains why Peter's Spidey sense was off. We've thought it all was somehow related to brainwaves which are nothing more than electrical impulses. It makes sense that the controller technology would interfere with those impulses so it could override them." He thought through the implication of Davis not being able to form a portal. "I may be able to explain Davis too...I need to try something first."

xxxxxxxxxx

* * *

Tony returned to the MedBay floor seeking out Davis only to find the hallway empty. He heard voices from Wyatt's room and figured Wyatt had woken up. Putting the experiment on hold he pushed open Peter's door and stepped in. MJ's head turned and looked toward the door. Tony smiled, "You were asleep when I came in before. I thought you probably needed the rest. Has he woken up at all?"

MJ slid off the bed. "I'm not sure if you can call it waking up. He tried to roll over and almost pulled the heart monitor off."

Tony chuckled. "Yeah, he is not the most elegant sleeper nor does he really respect medical equipment. He's gotten himself tangled up in wires and tubes more than once. It's honestly why a lot of this is wireless at this point."

MJ smiled and looked down at Peter. "So how long does he usually sleep?"

It dawned on Tony that this was MJ's first experience with hurt Peter. She had seen him on the tail end of recovery but never really during this part. "My guess is he'll be out all of tonight and part of tomorrow. Broken bones and cuts he would just go to sleep and be fine in the morning. His body has the ability to triage wounds so it'll take care of the biggest problems first. So right now, it's working on healing the damage in his heart." He glanced over at the heart monitor that was still showing an irrational rhythm. "You'll start to see the rhythm settle into a more even pattern over the next six hours or so. Then it'll work on mending the wound on his side." He looked over at MJ. "And just a heads up, he gets really irritable when he's hurt."

MJ looked up at Tony and mentally filed away everything he had told her. She knew that this wouldn't be the only time she would find herself sitting in a hospital room with Peter. She was glad she was here and not just waiting for the 'I'm not dead' text or a text from Karen cataloging the non-life threatening injuries.

"MJ, why don't you go upstairs and get something to eat. My guess is you haven't eaten much today." Tony watched her debate the idea of leaving. "I'll stay with him and then when you get back and I can fill you in on the 'tips for dealing with hurt Peter'.

MJ smiled. She was starving but she really hadn't wanted to leave Peter. She also knew this was a new area for Tony. Before, she was pretty sure he stayed with Peter the entire time he was in MedBay. And now, he was having to share. She thought he was doing fairly well with it so far. She nodded and walked towards the door. "I'll be back in a bit."

Tony watched her walk out and then settled into the chair next to Peter's bed. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that he didn't hate the idea of sharing Peter with MJ. Peter would always be his son and he would always be at Peter's side when Peter needed him. He was just incredibly happy that Peter also had MJ. She was good for him. He looked over at the bed when Peter moved a bit. He saw Peter's hand move to where MJ had been a few moment ago.

Peter tried to force his eyes open. "MJ...". He was groggy enough that he wasn't sure if he actually spoke her name or if it was just in his head.

"Hey Kid."

Peter turned his head towards the familiar voice and felt the comforting pressure on his shoulder. It was the voice that always told him he was home and that he was safe. "Dad..."

"I sent MJ to get something to eat." Tony leaned over and ran his hand through the curls. He could feel Peter trying to fight through the grogginess. "Pete, you need to go back to sleep." Tony watched a frown form on Peter's face and it dawned on him what the problem was. "Wyatt is in the room next door. He's awake and will make a full recovery. Steve and Nat found Ned and he too will be ok". He felt a Peter relax. "Anything else you're worried about?"

"MJ...".

Tony frowned. While Peter was generally out of it at times like this he usually at least remembered what Tony said. "MJ went to get something to eat."

Peter tried shaking his head. "No..." he moved his hand next to him. "She was keeping me warm."

Tony laughed. "Kid, as your father I'm not sure I can tell your girlfriend to crawl back in bed with you."

Peter rolled over and settled back into the bed. "Sure you can. You're Tony Stark. You can do anything."


	98. Chapter 98 - I'm Hungry

Peter woke up with his stomach growling. He looked around the room and smiled when he saw MJ curled up in a chair, nose in a book. "Hey". He still felt a little groggy but hunger was winning the battle.

MJ looked up from her book. "Hey yourself. How are you feeling?"

"Hungry. What time is it?" Peter tried to push himself up.

MJ glanced down at her watch as she stood to help Peter maneuver into a sitting position. "Almost 1pm. On Friday. What do you want to eat?"

"I don't know...food." It came out snippier than Peter intended but he felt pain shoot through his side as he shifted in bed. Reaching down he felt the bandage and tried to look at it.

"You got shot. Just a graze." MJ crosses her arms and looked at Peter. Tony was right. Hurt Peter equaled Irritable Peter.

Peter frowned. "When did I get shot?"

MJ sighed, "Best guess is that it happened when we were leaving the building. Wyatt got hit in the shoulder." MJ saw the look of panic on Peter's face and added quickly "He's fine. He's in the room next door." She sat down and scrutinized him. She needed a baseline of behavior so she'd know better how to deal with him when he was hurt. But, she also knew from years of shoving protein bars at him the next morning after Karen had let her know he had gotten hurt the night before that he really did need to eat. "FRIDAY, can you get someone to bring Peter some 'food'. And let Tony know he's awake?"

"Enacting 'Hungry Baby Protocol'."

"FRIDAY, I thought we changed the name." Peter asked, exasperated, trying not to look at MJ who was laughing uncontrollably.

"Boss changed it back."

Peter growled, glancing over at MJ. "It's not that funny."

"Yes it is." MJ forced herself to stop laughing. Deciding that switching subjects was the best way to handle Peter right now she leaned forward to look at him. "So what do you remember?"

Peter frowned again and looked down at his lap trying to pull memories out. "Getting out of the building and portaling to the hanger. Not much after that. I think dad was here last night?" He looked over at MJ with a questioning look. "I remember him saying Wyatt was ok, Ned had been found, and he sent you to get something to eat." At least he hoped that was a memory and not just a dream.

MJ nodded. "Not bad. I didn't think you'd remember anything from the plane. You were unconscious before I finished cleaning up your side." Ignoring the look on Peter's face at that comment, she continued to the stuff she knew Peter was most concerned about. "They found Ned in a local hospital with the controller tech still on his neck. They wanted to get it removed before bringing him back. So far he doesn't remember much."

Peter let out a sigh of relief. Knowing that Ned would be ok he felt like a weight had been lifted.

MJ smiled at his obvious relief. "Wyatt got shot in the shoulder. No skull fracture. They put him in some kind of devise the Dr. Cho created? Cradle technology? Anyway, bullet wound is almost completely healed. He'll have to do a little bit of rehab in Boston which your dad and Dr. Cho are setting up. I think his head still hurts a little bit."

Peter nodded. He had seen the cradle tech used once before when Nat had gotten shot in the leg on a mission. It was pretty impressive. "How freaked out is Jennifer?"

"Not as bad as it could be. I think she'll keep everyone's secrets. She and Wyatt are talking. Not sure where that's going. I'm sure I've got a couple days worth of unpacking everything when we get back Sunday night."

Peter frowned when she mentioned going back Sunday night. He had enjoyed being with MJ for a full week. It was easy to forget they they both had to return to school on Monday. In different cities.

"I know. Me too." MJ knew the look on Peter's face. She leaned over and rested her elbows on the bed. "I really liked spending the week with you."

"Even though I spent the entire week obsessing over Avenger stuff and then someone tried to kill us?" Peter looked over at her, doubt flashing across his face.

MJ didn't hesitate. "Yes. And even sitting here waiting for you to wake up. And even cleaning up a bullet wound in your side. All of it. The good and the bad." She paused and grabbed his hand. "This was preferable to waiting for the text that simply said 'I'm not dead.'"

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* * *

Tony fastened a prototype watch on Davis's wrist. "Ok. Envision your tactical gear. You've seen Peter's suit form. Think about your gear forming the same way."

Davis looked over at Tony with skepticism. "How am I supposed to 'envision' tactical gear?"

Tony sighed. This was so much easier with Peter. "I don't know. Just imagine the gear on."

Davis shook his head but closed his eyes. At this point he just felt stupid...until he felt his tactical gear covering his body. Opening his eyes he looked down. "That was seriously cool."

Tony leaned back against the lab table and smirked. "This just means we're a little closer to nailing down exactly how you form portals. And, you now have a cool little gadget and you don't have to change into your gear."

Now that he could do it, Davis retracted and formed the gear several times until he saw Tony rolling his eyes. "Sorry. Wyatt is going to be so mad."

There was a gleeful tone to the comment that Tony could appreciate. "You're using your brain to control the portals. Which means there's a lot more you could probably to with them. It's also why you couldn't portal near the building in California. The controller technology interferes with brain waves. The nanotechnology also utilizes a mental component. Peter and I haven't really been able to isolate exactly which part of our brain waves are controlling the tech. All we know is that not everyone can use it. So problem one solved."

"Boss, Peter is awake. I'm sending food to his room. Would you like anything to eat?"

Tony smiled. Peter was awake. "No FRIDAY. Just send food for Peter and MJ." He looked over at Davis who was still fiddling with the watch and the nanotech. "Report to imaging. I need a brain scan." He heard Davis groan as he walked out of the room and headed towards Peter's room.

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* * *

"Hey kid!" Tony walked into Peter's room, happy to see him sitting up, MJ perched on the side of the bed. He glanced at the monitors as he moved to the other side of Peter's bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Side hurts and I'm hungry."

Tony chuckled and sat down in the chair next to Peter's bed and handed him a protein bar. FRIDAY would have everyone moving quickly to get Peter something to eat but it still took a little bit of time.

Peter unwrapped the protein bar and ate it in two bites. Swallowing he looked over, "Thanks dad."

Tony nodded. "If your heart stays in sync Dr. Cho will probably release you once she sees that your side is starting to heal." He knew how much Peter hated sleeping in hospital beds. Peter would be driving everyone crazy as soon as he had some food in him. "How's the stickiness?"

Peter shrugged. "Better than before. But not reliable yet." He thought back to the last time he had been hit with electricity. Now that he had time to think through the events something about Ned using a taser on him seemed odd. "Dad, don't you think it's weird that they used a taser on me?"

MJ straightened up and looked between Tony and Peter. She could tell there was more to it than just a simple question.

Tony nodded. "They knew you were Spider-Man. It seems like an oddly specific choice of weapon. Maybe Ned told them once they put the controller device on him."

Peter shook his head. "Dad, Ned didn't know about what happened with Osborn. The only people who know anything about it are in this building."

Tony sat back and looked at Peter. "You didn't tell Ned?"

Peter shook his head and glanced over at MJ. "MJ didn't know about it until the thing with Harry." He looked back over at his dad. "How sure are we that his files and notes didn't get out."

Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. "Not 100%."

MJ looked between the two. "You think someone has Osborn's information on Peter?" She could only imagine what that would include. She knew Peter had been used as a lab rat and she knew Osborn had known who he was.

Tony frowned. "Maybe. It explains how they knew who he was. And they definitely would've had to have known who he was if they had vibranium handcuffs. You can't just pick those up anywhere. And using electricity is just too much of a coincidence." This wasn't good on so many fronts. His knee jerk reaction was going to be to keep Peter at the compound but he knew that wouldn't be received well.

Peter looked between MJ and his dad. "I'm not hiding so both of you get it out of your head. We'll deal with it." Peter cycles through what he would need to put in place to keep MJ safe. He wasn't sure how she would take it but he'd have to make sure she understood it was non-negotiable.

They all looked at the door as it opened and a cart was pushed in containing lunch for Peter and MJ. Tony looked at the two. "You eat, I'll go talk to Nat and Steve."

MJ and Peter watched Tony walk out of the room, followed by the person who had delivered their food. Peter picked up a sandwich and took a couple bites trying to figure out how to broach the subject with MJ. He finally settled on the direct approach. "MJ..."

MJ looked up from her sandwich. "You want me to have a tracker and some kind of body guard don't you?"

Peter stared at her. Of course she knew what he was thinking. "Yes. If they know who I am then they know who is important to me."

"Ok." MJ took another bite of her sandwich.

Peter looked at her suspiciously. "That was way easier than I expected."

"Peter, I'm not stupid and I don't have a death wish. Being your girlfriend means that I'm a target for anyone who wants to get to you. And I don't just mean you Spider-Man but also you Peter Parker, Tony Stark's son. I knew what I was getting into and I did it with my eyes open." MJ put her sandwich down and looked at Peter. "I'm all in. Tracker and body guard included."


	99. Chapter 99 - Power

Tony walked into the command center. Steve and Natasha had been sifting through bits of information they had recovered in California. "I think Osborn's information got out."

Natasha sat back and looked at Tony. "Because of the taser?"

"And the handcuffs. You can't just pick up vibranium handcuffs on your way to a kidnapping." Tony leaned against the table and looked at Natasha and Steve. "They knew who he was and they were prepared for him."

Steve stood up from where he had been leaning over Natasha's shoulder. "We were never 100% sure it was contained. If it were just that they knew he was Spider-Man I might say you were just being paranoid. But the taser voltage is enough to make me think you're right."

"So what are we going to do about it?" Natasha looked between the two men. They all knew Peter well enough to know he wasn't going to hide. And, he'd make it really challenging for them to protect him. Plus there was MJ to worry about. Natasha started running through options on keeping MJ safe.

Steve looked down at Natasha. "I'm not quite as worried about Peter as long as the other four are with him. And let's face it, they're almost always together. Peter has every class with at least one of them." He glanced down at the information they had been reviewing. "But the quicker we find out who is behind this the better."

Tony sat down and grabbed a tablet. "Agreed. What do we know?"

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* * *

"I don't understand why I can't just walk next door. It's not that far."

Dr. Cho crossed her arms and looked at Peter. "Because the last erratic rhythm you had was less than 4 hours ago and there's still an open wound on your side." She sighed and looked over at the wheelchair. "I told Wyatt the same thing. He got dizzy when he stood up. If you two want to insist upon moving around then you're doing it sitting down. Otherwise, you're both going to be stuck here much longer than you want."

Peter recognized the last statement as the threat it was. Throwing back the covers he snarled "Fine." He was just glad MJ had agreed to grab a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt from his room upstairs. Pushing himself off the bed he dropped down into the wheelchair. He would never admit it to Dr. Cho but the sudden movement had made him a little lightheaded. "Happy?"

"No. But it's better than you trying to sneak out of the room." She glanced up at MJ with a look that said 'good luck' and stepped back to let the two of them through.

MJ pushed Peter to the door and opened it, allowing Peter to wheel himself through. She smirked as he pushed himself down the hall at a faster speed than Dr. Cho would probably recommend. Reaching Wyatt's door he realized he needed MJ's help because he couldn't move the chair back far enough to open the door and still reach the door. Growling he glanced back at her with a look that said 'please help'. She pulled the door open to find a similarly irritated Wyatt in a matching wheelchair on the other side.

"No, we are getting the hell out of this room." Wyatt winced as he tried to push himself through the door. Davis stepped behind him and took over.

"The cradle tech is cool but you had a bullet hole in your shoulder 24 hours ago. You're not pushing yourself." Davis just laughed at the growl coming from Wyatt. "Where to?"

Peter nodded his head down the hall. "There's a conference room at the end of the hall." He wheeled that way with the rest of them following behind him. MJ was going to check on Jennifer. He had a lot to unpack with the team that MJ and Jennifer didn't need to be involved in...at least not yet.

Bobby pulled the conference room door open and allowed Peter and Wyatt through. Johnny filed in behind Davis leaving Bobby to close the door behind them. "Glad to see your eyes open Sleeping Beauty."

Peter shrugged, really hoping that nickname wasn't going to stick. "It's what keeps me from having to use the cradle tech."

"The cradle tech is seriously cool. You can't even see the bullet hole." Wyatt pulled the sleeve of his shirt up. "It's still really achy though."

"I'm really sorry you got shot." Peter frowned. "It's my fault."

Wyatt shook his head. "Not your fault. Bad guy with a gun. End of story."

"I wish it were." Peter thought they deserved to know that this whole thing was possibility linked to him. Which meant telling them everything about Osborn. Everything. "The guys who grabbed us knew I was Spider-Man."

Johnny nodded. "We figured as much. The cuffs were Vibranium. I had to go pretty hot in order to melt them."

Peter looked over at Johnny, "Vibranium is one of the few substances I can't break since it just absorbs anything that hits it. Melting may be one of the only ways to overpower it." Peter took a deep breath and looked at the team. "The fact that I got hit with a high voltage taser is also something really specific that not a whole lot of people know about."

Wyatt shook his head. "Peter, you're not making this any clearer. What's this about."

"During my senior year in high school, my Spidey sense started going off non-stop. The only place it wasn't going off was the tower."

Bobby scoffed, "That's because that place is more secure than the White House."

Everyone chuckled knowing the truth to Bobby's statement. "Ok Peter, Spidey sense going off. Obviously someone was stalking you." Johnny crossed his arms and looked at Peter waiting for the rest of the story.

"It blew off the front end of the car Pepper, Happy, and I were in just to try to get to me."

"It?" Wyatt rested his elbows on the arms of the wheelchair.

"It. It ended up being human but when it attacked it kind of looked like a Skrull." Peter knew they all had seen pictures of a Skrull so they had the visual in their head. "Pepper and Happy getting hurt kind of sent me off a cliff. The constant buzz of my Spidey sense was already driving me a little crazy and that was just the final straw. I allowed myself to get taken knowing that the rest of them would find me and stop him."

The team nodded. It was a perfectly logical solution. One that each of them would have opted for themselves. When Peter didn't get the overreaction of concern that he would have gotten from the rest of the Avengers he realized that his team got it. They understood. It wasn't something Peter ever really had before and it dawned on him what a gaping hole the four of them filled for him. He wasn't their younger brother like he was to Nat and Bucky. He was their equal. Davis pulled him out of his head. "So how is this related to what happened?"

"The creature that grabbed me was Norman Osborn using a morphing technology he created from the Skrulls. Norman Osborn as in the OsCorp CEO who went missing my senior year. Only he's not missing. He's dead." Peter sighed. "The field trip I was on when I was 14 and got bitten by the spider was to OsCorp. Osborn was trying to create a new version of the Super Soldier serum. When he figured out that Spider-Man was the result of his serum, he needed me to try to produce more serum. After he grabbed me not only did he sequence my DNA but he also did things to figure out my limits."

"He experimented on you." Bobby crossed his arms and frowned.

Johnny shook his head. "He tortured you. The electricity. That's what you're talking about. He hit you with electricity to see how you would react and discovered that you don't tolerate it because all of your stickiness and spidey sense are coming from electrical impulses."

Peter nodded. "Which is why the high voltage taser is suspicious. People have seen me stop trains and busses. How do you guess that a high hit of electricity will take me out."

Wyatt leaned back and stretched his legs out. "You don't." He thought for a second. "Ok. Files got out. Who has them?"

"That is the question of the day. Basil was working on controller technology and it seems like he figured it out. But I don't think he's behind this. He's just a minion." Peter thought for a moment about why controller tech bothered him so much . It mostly stemmed back to the idea he had that if you had Super Soldiers you had to have a way to control them. He had been worried enough that his dad had sent his DNA to Professor Xavier to look at. "If you can't mind control Super Soldiers like the Winter Soldier program then you need another way to make sure they do what you want and not what they want. I mean, can you imagine the damage any of us could do if we weren't in control?"

Davis sat down in one of the chairs. "But, we also know the controller tech is tied in with whoever the new fixer is."

Johnny leaned against the table and looked at the group. "The fixer could just be a minion too. Super Soldiers and Bio Enhanced individuals. Both that you can control. What in the hell do you need that kind of fire power for?"


	100. Chapter 100 - Team Meeting

The boys sat in the conference room bouncing ideas off of each other. Johnny looked over at Peter about thirty minutes into it. "Osborn. That's why you took off after Gwen introduced you to Harry."

Peter nodded. "I had just met a dead man's son. I've spent the last five years making sure that I don't kill anyone. You all know Tony as my dad but neither one of us knew about it until I was 17. The man I thought was my father died in a plane crash when I was 3. I've been an orphan longer than I've been Tony Stark's son." Peter looked down. "I was raised by my aunt and uncle then my uncle was killed when I was 14. To be responsible for a son no longer having a father hit me really hard."

"He tortured you. Tried to kill people you care about. You have zero reason to feel bad about his death." Wyatt was starting to understand Peter's vehement insistence on not killing anyone.

"So my dad and MJ keep telling me."

"Speaking of MJ. I'm assuming you're putting some kind of protection in place. How are you managing that?" Bobby had seen Peter after MJ had broken up with him for trying to protect her. He really didn't want his friend to have to go through that again.

"She's agreed to a tracker and a body guard. Just not sure how the body guard thing is going to work. Happy going to class with her would not go well." Peter glanced over at Wyatt. "What about Jennifer. They're roommates."

Wyatt frowned. "She is so freaked out over all of this. Telling her that her life may be in danger is not going to go over well."

Peter sighed. "I went the route of keeping MJ in the dark and she broke up with me. All I can say is that if you think she'll keep your secrets then telling her the truth isn't a bad option." Granted Peter and MJ had way more history but Peter was starting to get some perspective when it came to being a superhero. He was even starting to wonder if keeping his identity a secret was even worth it. That was a much bigger conversation that he couldn't even think about having right now.

All five boys looked over to the door as it was pushed open. Tony walked in and surveyed the scene in front of him. "Team meeting."

"Yes." Peter answered, looking at his dad with a questioning look.

"No...team meeting. In the command center." Tony sighed when all five boys looked at him with the same questioning look. "All of you report to the command center. Full team meeting."

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* * *

Steve and Natasha looked up as the five boys filed into the command center with Tony pushing Peter in last. The rest of the team that was at the compound had already made it in and were sitting around the table. Once everyone had settled in Steve looked over at Peter. "Are they up to speed on what happened with Osborn?" After Peter nodded he continued. "After what happened in California we're working under the assumption that Osborn's files on Peter got out." He put up a picture of Basil Sandhurst. "SHIELD has all hands on deck looking for Basil as well as our mysterious fixer."

Peter leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table and glanced over at his team. "You've probably come to the same conclusion we have - that they're both working for someone who has an interest in controlling Super Soldiers and Bio Enhanced individuals."

Johnny sat back and looked up at Steve. "Which begs the question 'why'. Who needs to control that much fire power."

Tony smirked at Natasha who was currently beaming with pride that the boys had come to the same conclusion. Natasha put up another picture. "Best guess...Ross. His anti-mutant rumblings are starting to turn more into a movement." She glanced around at everyone at the table. "We are flying under the radar with this and not looping SHIELD into our suspicions. Ross still has a lot of friends in high places."

"Going after Ross is going to have repercussions." Sam glances around at the group. "I'm not saying he isn't responsible. I'm just saying we need to make sure we have facts and not just speculation."

Steve nodded. "Which is going to take time. Ross has always been good at covering his network."

Wyatt frowned. "Something else is bothering me about this. Why grab me and Peter. I get that their target was probably Peter and I was just in the way but does that mean they don't have the super soldier serum complete?"

"Actually, we think you and Peter were probably both the intended target." Natasha switched the picture up to the controller tech with a series of code next to it. "We think Ned might have gotten suspicious. When they removed the device from him they were able to interface with it and see at least the back end of the code. We think he was trying to build in a back door. If they found out and their goal was to get it done they would have needed to make sure that you couldn't stop them." She looked over at Peter. "You were in the SUV when you met Ned for lunch and when you four went out for dinner, right?"

Peter nodded, frowning. "You think they tracked the SUV?"

"Not exactly. Basil is a computer genius. Hacking into traffic cameras would have been easy. If he knew what you were driving he could have located the vehicle." She looked at Wyatt. "You were just as much of a threat they just didn't know who you were so they couldn't plan for you."

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* * *

Most of the Avengers trickled out after receiving their assignments. Peter stayed behind. "I need a way to protect MJ and pulling her out of school isn't an option. She's agreed to a tracker and protection but..." he looked over at Natasha, "you know her definition of protection and mine are totally different."

Natasha nodded. "I know. I gave some thought to just moving in with her but I think we came up with a better option."

Steve sat down next to Peter and Tony. "We called T'Challa to fill him in on Ross. He's been fighting the anti-mutant movement politically and he knows Ross is a snake. He had a great idea that we think MJ will be ok with."

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* * *

Peter walked into his bedroom upstairs. MJ had been put there although she had barely spent any time there since she had slept in Peter's room in the MedBay.

"Hey, they cut you lose. I'm assuming that means your heart is working right again and the Spider healed your side?" MJ stood up from where she had been reading on Peter's bed and walked over to Peter. Pulling up his shirt she inspected the area where the wound had been. All that remained was the faintest hint of redness.

"Dr. Cho officially released me." He leaned over and kissed MJ before sitting down on his bed. "Your brand new watch, complete with your very own panic button and satellite tracker will be ready tomorrow. No nanotech spider suit although I did consider giving you a web shooter."

MJ sat down next to him laughing. "I thought I did pretty good with it."

"You did." Peter looked over at her. "I don't think I tell you enough how amazing you are."

MJ frowned at him. "You better not be trying to butter me up just to tell me you're locking me away until this is over."

Peter quickly shook his head. "No, if fact I think you'll actually like the option Nat came up with." He pulled out his phone and hit dial. Soon a face appeared on the screen.

"MJ! I was hoping you'd come back to Wakanda to visit but it looks like I'm having to come to you."

MJ stared at the phone in disbelief. "Nakia?" She looked at Peter, "You got Nakia to be my body guard."

"Peter had nothing to do with this. Natasha and Steve called to fill T'Challa in on what's been going on. I happened to be in the room at the time. I volunteered. Think of it more as two friends catching up."

MJ looked between Peter and Nakia. "When do you get here?"

"We'll fly over tomorrow and will spend some time working on logistics." Nakia smiled, "MJ, there is a saying in Africa...'Even the lion, king of the forest, protects himself against flies'. Do not look at this as unneeded and inconvenient. It is my hope that you don't need me. But if you do, I shall be there."

MJ sighed, "I know. I'm working on it. It'll be good to see you." The call disconnected and MJ looked at Peter. "It could be worse. I was worried Natasha was going to move in."

"Oh...that's Plan B."


	101. Chapter 101 - The Coming War

Peter walked into Wyatt's room in MedBay. "Heard you have to stay another night."

Wyatt crossed his arms and frowned at Peter. "Just because I got a little lightheaded when I tried to stand up Dr. Cho made me get a whole other round of x-rays and scans." He looked over at Peter. "Remind me not to get hit over the head with a gun again."

Peter nodded. "She's just making sure you're ok. I think you'll still be ready to head back to Boston Sunday night." Peter slid into the chair next to Wyatt. "How is Jennifer really doing?"

Wyatt shrugged. "Not bad considering the last couple days. Steve talked to her when he came down to bring me some pajama pants and a t-shirt. He has an unbelievable ability to make all of this seem not completely crazy. It calmed her down some." He leaned back on the bed and looked at Peter. "The cats out of the bag about who we are, might as well go the no secrets route, right?" Wyatt hadn't fully committed to the idea yet but was warning up to it.

Peter leaned back and put his foot up on the bars on the side of the bed. "MJ knew I was Spider-Man before we started dating. When we did start dating I was still your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man who on occasion would go on a mission with the Avengers. I would tell her some stuff but the older I got and the more missions I went on the more things I saw. Things I didn't think she needed to be exposed to. Things I wanted to protect her from. Hell, things I wanted to protect everyone from." He looked over at Wyatt, "But it wasn't just the Avenger stuff. Things I'd see as Spider-Man on a normal Friday night in New York. People can really do some horrible things." He shifted a little before continuing. "The more I saw the more boxes I had to create to put stuff into. I had the classified boxes, the horrible things boxes, and the I got hurt and I didn't want you to know about it box. Eventually there were more boxes that I wouldn't allow her to see than boxes that she could see."

"That makes for a rough life." Wyatt realized there were big chunks of Peter's life they hadn't known about. He had opened up a lot the last couple days and he felt like it made them all stronger, more of a team.

"It does and it was what drove her to break up with me. When she came to Boston she said she wanted in all of the boxes. So that's what we do now. And she's handling it. She's handling it better than I ever gave her credit for. There's still a couple things I haven't been able to tell her but it's a work in progress." Peter shrugged, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's not the end of the world if you let someone into the boxes as long as you trust them and they actually want in the boxes.

Wyatt looked over at Peter again, "It's weird. We don't have the history you and MJ have but I trust her. I guess I just need to see if she really wants in the boxes. What's the plan for protection?"

Peter grinned, "When MJ went to Africa Bucky called T'Challa and they got Nakia to keep an eye on her." Peter realized Wyatt had no idea who Nakia was and barely knew who T'Challa was so he backed up. "Wakanda's version of the CIA is called the 'War Dogs'. Nakia is..." Peter frowned, "...maybe was, a War Dog. Now she does a lot more of the outreach stuff Wakanda has started but she's basically the Wakanda version of Nat. She's coming here and will act as MJ's bodyguard. MJ knows her and likes her so she won't push back too much. If Jennifer can get comfortable with it she'll just move into their guest room at the apartment. If not they'll put her next door. Depends on Jennifer."

Wyatt sighed. "Ok, I'll talk to her and see how comfortable she is with the idea. Who knows she may want to dump all of us and go home." Wyatt frowned at the thought. Pushing it aside he looked back over at Peter. "I was worried you were going to tell me Nat was going to do it. Jennifer hasn't warmed up to Nat yet."

Peter laughed, "That's plan B. And Jennifer doesn't like Nat because she can't figure your relationship out. Nat treats you like she does me...like a little brother. But Nat is...well...she's Natasha Romanoff. That's a little intimidating until you get to know her."

Wyatt laughed. He knew Peter was right in his assessment of how Jennifer viewed Natasha. "One more question...when did we become Avengers? I'm not complaining but it was a little anticlimactic."

Peter laughed as he stood up. "Yeah, I don't think anyone is ever asked. I'm not sure when we went from Natasha's junior Avengers to full fledged ones." Peter turned when he heard the door open. He smiled at Jennifer as she walked in. "Hey Jennifer. See if you can cheer him up some. He's got to spend another night down here."

Jennifer smiled and walked over to Wyatt's bed. "I'll do my best."

"See you later Wyatt. Tell FRIDAY to get me if you need anything." Peter closed the door behind him and headed back upstairs.

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* * *

The five boys made their way into the command center. At some point on Friday, Tony and Steve thought it would be best to brief all affected parties. Peter wasn't even sure what that meant until they walked into the command center to find standing room only. Peter whispered to Bobby and Johnny who happened to be standing on either side of him. "Do you have any idea what the combined IQ is in the room right now?"

"Pretty damn high." Johnny waived at Sue and Reed who were making their way over to Johnny and Wyatt.

Bobby spotted Professor Xavier and pulled Peter over. "Peter, I don't think you've met Scott or Jean before." Bobby turned to the two people flanking Professor Xavier. "Scott Summers, Jean Grey, this is Peter."

"Bobby's talked about you both. It's great to meet you in person. Scott, thanks for the assist with Firebrand. The information was helpful." Peter shook hands with all three. Before Peter could add anything, Tony walked up to the group. "Charles, can can I borrow Peter for a minute?" Tony steered Peter toward T'Challa. "Dad, why is everyone here?"

"Yeah, it got a little out of control. It's hard to imagine that all of this started with six of us battling Chitauri in New York. We thought it was only fair to let Reed and Sue know what's going on especially since Wyatt got hurt. Ross has been specifically targeting mutants which means Charles needed to be informed."

"Why is Dr. Strange here?" Peter glanced around at all of the faces. "And isn't that the giant guy?"

Tony followed Peter's gaze as they continued to move through the room, "That's Lang. He's big and little. Stephen was here this morning consulting on your electrical problem and what we discovered on how Davis makes portals and just decided to stay. He said he's representing the 'mystic arts'...I really just think he felt left out." Despite the condescending tone he used when he said 'mystic arts', Tony actually liked Stephen. Although if they spent too much time together they'd probably end up trying to kill each other. "T'Challa is heading back to Wakanda right after the briefing. He wanted to actually meet you. You stayed in the back of the room with Clint when we were in Wakanda before."

'That's because he's a head of state and I'm a teenager from Queens' Peter thought to himself. He looked up at the incredibly imposing figure that was T'Challa and his equally imposing body guard and extended his hand. "King T'Challa, I'm Peter."

"Peter, it's nice to finally meet you. And please, just T'Challa." T'Challa shook Peter's hand. "This is Okoye, General of the Dora Milaje." Okoye nodded at Peter but didn't move her hand off of her staff.

Peter thought he saw T'Challa roll his eyes at Okoye but he couldn't be sure. "T'Challa, thank you for allowing Nakia to help protect MJ."

T'Challa put an arm around Peter's shoulder. "You are welcome, although my approval was not needed. Nakia would have done it regardless of my opinion although I am more than happy to provide any assistance you might need. Nakia genuinely enjoyed spending time with MJ last summer and was more than happy to seize the opportunity to visit with her again. You can trust however that Nakia will keep her safe." He glanced over at Steve. "It appears that the briefing is starting momentarily but I did want to extend an offer to you and MJ to come spend some time in Wakanda this summer. We would love to show you our country and my sister has been dying to meet Spider-Man."

Peter nodded, "I'm sure MJ would love that." He nodded to both T'Challa and Okoye and made his way back to the rear of the room with his dad.

Steve waited for everyone else to settle down. Peter had always marveled at the ability Steve had to command attention without saying a word. He leaned against the wall next to his dad with the rest of his team standing in close proximity.

"Over the last couple months we've seen evidence of an increase in bio-engineering by a new fixer that is using a brain stem interface. We also have reason the believe that a new formula for a Super Soldier serum has been found. And then this past week we've seen evidence that a controller device has been perfected that also interfaces with the brain stem. We don't believe the fixer or the person with the controller technology are working on their own. We think they are potentially component parts of a larger plan." Steve glanced over at at Johnny, "who needs to control that much fire power. Imagine the damage that could be done if you have bio-enhanced individuals and super soldiers, both of which you can control."

Jean leaned forward in her chair next to Professor Xavier. "Hydra tried something similar a couple years ago with the Terrigen drug. Their plan was to essentially create an army of super powered mutants. Do we think Hydra is behind this?"

"No. I'd never thought I'd say this but it would be easier if it were Hydra. We feel like it's more likely that it's former Secretary of State Ross." Steve paused to let the murmurs die down. "Let me be clear. We do not have direct evidence proving his involvement but..."

"But with his recent anti-mutant rumblings it fits. He would need a super powered army to take on a group of mutants." Charles Xavier's expression was pensive. He had feared that a war was coming.

Steve nodded, "Ross has always had personal issues with anyone that has been altered. He also likes to be in control. That unfortunately puts most of the people in this room in his cross hairs."

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* * *

Information was distributed to all parties. The hunt for Sandhurst, their fixer, any evidence of controller tech, and anything that might link Ross to any of this. Nat hadn't had a lot of luck finding anything on her own. As much as she hated to admit defeat she welcomed the extra eyes.

Peter and Wyatt said good by to MJ, Jennifer, and Nakia in the morning. Peter hated the idea of MJ possibly being in danger and being so far away and he thought Wyatt felt the same about Jennifer. He trusted Nakia but he trusted himself more. The boys flew back to Cambridge that night and started school the next day. Everything was almost normal but they all knew it wasn't. They just weren't sure what to expect and when.


	102. Chapter 102 - Back to School

Classes started as if nothing had happened. Everyone else came back talking about their spring break trips. The boys put on a good front but the weight of what could be an all out war bore down on all of them. The boys went to class, studied, then trained. Wyatt's training was limited to instructing the others and rehabbing his shoulder. Peter bounced between sparring with Bobby and running on the treadmill. He tried swinging in the gym but all it did was frustrate him. Within two weeks of being back, Peter felt like he was a ball of tension.

"Ok, that's it. We aren't studying, we're not training. We are going to the Odyssey and acting like college students." Wyatt looked at other four. "We're all acting like it's the end of the world and while there is something brewing on the horizon, it's not here yet." The four boys didn't argue with him but they didn't move either. "We need a night off." He looked over at Peter, "You text or call MJ multiple times a day. When you're not texting or calling, you're checking her tracker." Peter crossed his arms and started to make a rebuttal but Wyatt cut him off. "I'm just as guilty." He looked over at the others. "The rest of you are asking for updates multiple times a day from Steve or Nat or Professor Xavier or Reed. At least you're mixing it up some but we're all stressing about this. We need to blow off some steam."

Peter uncrossed his arms and sighed, "You're right." He reached over and grabbed Johnny's keys off the bar and tossed them to him. "You're driving." While Peter knew Wyatt was right. He also didn't want to split them up. Usually he and Johnny would both drive but when needed they could all fit into Johnny's SUV, which is what they were doing tonight.

They arrived at the Odyssey earlier than normal so staked out their table and ordered food. Bobby looked over at Peter. "There's no one really here. Come play pool with us."

Peter glanced around the relatively empty bar and had a 'screw it' moment. Standing up he walked over to the pool table and picked up a cue stick. He had played once at the compound and had then been banned from playing. Chalking the stick he looked at other other four. "We're all playing. Everyone gets a turn then I go. If I miss I'll buy the next round. If you all clear the table before my turn I'll buy the next round". He grinned at them. "Wrack them up."

They were five games into it and Peter hadn't missed a shot yet, until he heard Gwen. "Parker, are you actually playing pool?" The end result was the six ball rolling across the table without the proper spin on it and then coming to a complete stop less than an inch away from the corner pocket. Peter dropped his head. "Thanks Gwen."

The other four laughed. "Yeah, thanks Gwen. Peter's buying now."

Gwen walked over to the table and looked at Peter. "Play me." Peter looked over at the other four who merely shrugged. Peter sighed. "Fine. Ladies first."

Gwen set up the balls and took her shot. She sank five balls in a row before missing and giving Peter a turn. Taking a deep breath he leaned over and made the first shot, then proceeded to drop the remaining solid colored balls until just the 8 ball and Gwen's two striped balls were remaining on the table. Looking at Gwen he sunk the 8 ball without looking at it. "This is why I don't play."

Gwen laughed. "Where did you learn to play pool?"

"A friend taught me." Peter let it drop at that. He glanced over Gwen's shoulder. "Hi Harry."

Gwen glanced over her shoulder and kissed Harry on the cheek when he dipped his head down and hugged her from behind. "Harry! Peter just beat me at pool." Gwen smiled at Peter.

"Didn't know you were that good at pool. You never play." Harry watched Peter put the pool cue up.

Peter shrugged. "It's just physics and geometry." The hand eye coordination didn't hurt either he thought as he retreated to their table and sat down with the rest of the boys who had already made their way there.

Ultimately Peter was glad they had gone out. Everyone seemed to be relaxing some. He managed to only text MJ a handful of times and check her tracker a handful more. So far she wasn't getting too irritated with him but he could tell it was coming. They called it a night a little after midnight and headed home. Everyone else headed to bed. Peter made a valid attempt but after staring at his ceiling for thirty minutes he headed up to the roof. Looking out over the river he could see the Boston skyline. It was no where near as impressive as New York City's. There were a couple of tall buildings but none of them were close enough together that he could properly swing like he could at home. He realized on top of swinging he really just missed being high up too. Before he gave it much thought he activated the Iron Spider and dove off the roof.

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"Incoming call from MJ." Karen's voice rang through Peter's HUD.

"Hey MJ. It's 1:30 in the morning. Why are you awake? Don't you have a test tomorrow?"

"Test isn't until tomorrow afternoon." MJ paused, "So my watch has this really cool feature that shows me not only where you are but also how high up you are. Why are you 700 feet in the air?"

Peter cringed. At the time it had seemed like a wonderful gesture on his part...giving MJ the ability to track him as well. He thought it was only fair and when he showed it to her he could tell it had meant a lot to her. "The tallest building in Cambridge is only something like 200 feet. I miss being high up."

"Because it's quiet and you can think." MJ paused, "What's bothering you?"

Peter sighed. "I'm waiting for the next thing to happen. Part of me just wants it to come so we can get past it and the other part of me wants it never to come."

"Fair enough. I think we all feel that way. But you're going to drive yourself crazy if you can't find a way to deal with it."

Peter frowned as he perched on the edge of the tallest building in Boston. "MJ, how am I supposed to deal with it. You're potentially in danger on multiple fronts..."

"Stop. That's why Nakia is here. To take my safety off your plate."

"MJ, you're safety will always be on my plate. And it's not just this current threat. What happens when it comes out that I'm Spider-Man...because sooner or later it will." Peter felt his anxiety levels rise.

"We will deal with it together. Just like we'll deal with the fallout from the current threat together."

Peter took a deep breath. "What if we're not ready? What if we can't handle it? What if we lose?"

"Peter, I've watched you take on more and more over the years. You've handled it every time. Plus, you're forgetting that you have not only your team but an incredible amount of support. Think about it. You've got Professor Xavier's group. To hear Bobby talk, they're not lightweights. I'm also pretty sure Dr. Strange can do more than portals. You have the entire country of Wakanda. I'm not sure if anyone knows what Reed and Sue are capable of at this point. And then you have the original Avengers who have taken on threat after threat and have prevailed. I have faith that this combined group can take on just about anything and that's what you have to remember...it's a group effort. You aren't on your own." She heard Peter sigh. "Why don't you come up next weekend?"

"I can't. Wyatt and I have a project due." He heard MJ sigh on the other end. "Maybe the weekend after that. I'll see how my class schedule is working out."

"Ok. Peter, this will all turn out ok. Please try not to stress as much about it." MJ stifled a yawn. While Peter could function on very little sleep she could not. But she also hated knowing that Peter was struggling and there wasn't anything she could do to help.

"I hope you're right. You need to go to sleep." Peter looked up at the night sky. It was way too late for her to be awake dealing with his anxiety. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Talk to you in a couple hours...good night Peter. Don't stay out too late." MJ sighed and hung up leaving Peter staring at the twinkling stars.


	103. Chapter 103 - Wound Too Tight

-Peter cringed as he slid into the chair at their table at the Odyssey. He could hear Gwen from across the room.

"It's finally happened!" Gwen had abandoned the group of people she had been talking to and headed over to the boys table. Standing in front of Peter she grinned. "I finally got a higher test grade than you."

Peter sighed. "Off day." He knew it was really more like off week but so far that test was the only evidence of it.

Gwen laughed. "I'll say. I'm not sure I ever expected you to get that bad of a grade on a test."

"Gwen, leave it alone. Everyone has off days." Bobby leaned back in his chair. The stress of waiting for the next thing to happen was wearing on them all but it was definitely affecting Peter the worst. Of course Johnny was giving him a run for his money and was still on campus working through lab work as a result of it. "It barely made a dent in his class average."

"I know, it's just that it wears on you after a while when you're always beaten on tests by just a couple points. It feels good to finally come out on top." Gwen leaned on their table and looked at the four boys. "You know, all of you all have been off since spring break. What gives."

Wyatt looked over at her. "Just the realization that finals are on the horizon."

Gwen playfully leaned over and grabbed one of their nachos. "You know, if you're wound too tight, you're bound to break eventually. You all are all too brilliant to let that happen, right?"

"Gwen!"

They all turned to look the direction the voice came from. Gwen sighed, "Speaking of wound too tightly...". She pushed away from the table and walked over to Harry.

Peter watched her, there was just enough noise from different conversations that he had trouble hearing their conversation but, he didn't need super anything to see that Harry was more than a little agitated. Peter watched him grab Gwen by the arm and pull her over to the other side of the Odyssey.

Seeing where Peter's eyes were tracking, Davis nudged him. "I'm pretty sure Gwen isn't the type to put up with crap like that very long."

Peter didn't look away until he was sure Gwen had a handle on Harry. "I know. I just don't like it when guys act like that."

Davis nodded, "Everyone has their own stress and everyone deals with it differently. I think Gwen knows to come to us for help if she needs it."

Peter sighed and looked down at his drink. "I know." He glanced over at Wyatt, "Any idea what time Johnny is done?"

Wyatt shrugged, "Last text I got was that he had about twenty more minutes and then he was headed this way." Looking down at his watch he added, "Which means any time now."

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* * *

Johnny parked and slid out from behind the wheel. All he wanted to do was mindlessly waste a couple hours at the Odyssey. Having to spend extra time in the lab had not been fun. He had taken a couple short cuts on heating materials that hopefully no one had picked up on. Dropping his keys in his pocket he headed down the block. He was so late all of his normal parking spaces were taken. He glanced at the traffic and darted across the street making a beeline for the front door until something caught his eye on the roof of the building across from the Odyssey. Deciding to check it out he changed direction and headed to the back of the building.

Keeping his flames as light as possible he landed on the roof to see a familiar individual on the other end watching the building. Black hair draped across her face, flames were flickering off her finger tips as she stared intently through the windows of the Odyssey. Sensing Johnny she whipped around to face him. Flames increased over his body and Johnny tensed for a battle that never came.

"I'm not going to hurt anyone." Firebrand took a step towards Johnny but hesitated, unsure of what to do.

"You hurt a lot of people before so I'm having a hard time believing you now."

Firebrand looked down, refusing to make eye contact with Johnny. "I didn't want to hurt anybody."

Johnny reduced his flames but didn't extinguish them entirely. He was hoping it was slightly less intimidating. "Then why set all those fires?"

Firebrand looked back down at the Odyssey, panicking slightly until her eyes landed on her quarry again. "It's what I was told to do."

"You're a big girl. You can make your own decisions." Johnny took a step towards her and immediately regretted it when she slid further away. He put his hands in front of him in an attempt to show her he wasn't going to hurt her. "What's your name?"

She glanced back at him and frowned. "Firebrand."

"No, what's your real name?" Johnny tilted his head and looked at her. It was if he had just asked her an impossible question.

"Amanda". She replied, quiet enough that she wasn't sure if he heard her. She hadn't heard her own name spoken aloud in so long.

"Amanda." Johnny smiled at the shock on her face. "What are you doing here Amanda?"

She shook her head and glanced back down at the front of the Odyssey. "I'm just supposed to watch...to make sure...". She stopped and looked back at Johnny. "I can't...". She glanced back down at the front of the building seeing movement out of the corner of her room eye as a group of people walked out. "I'm sorry...". She whispered before leaping off the roof.

Johnny ran to the edge just in time to see her disappear into the shadows.

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* * *

The boys sat around the dining room table at home after Johnny had told them about his encounter with Firebrand. Peter pulled up the files they had gotten before and started reading through them again. "You think she's about our age?"

Johnny nodded, "And more skittish than a wounded animal."

Peter opened a folder containing all of the information they had ruled out before because of various reasons. "Ok...there have been multiple people who have gone by the name Firebrand. Most of them used some kind of exoskeleton which is why we didn't pay much attention to them before." He started rereading though everything. "Huh...ok...so there was this guy Gary Gilbert who was a mob enforcer maybe 10-15 years ago who went by the name Firebrand. Sounds like a pretty horrible guy..."

Davis leaned back in his chair, "For the record I'm going to go ahead and confirm that all mob enforcers are pretty horrible guys..."

Peter gave Davis a sympathetic look, "Sorry...I forgot..."

Davis shrugged, "My dad was actually worse than most of the enforcers. But they're bad enough. What happened to this Gilbert guy?"

"He and his wife were killed during some gang war in Detroit. Their daughter went missing. The age fits." Peter skimmed the rest of the information.

"But she doesn't use an exoskeleton. She's a full elemental." Johnny frowned. He wasn't sure this was getting them anywhere. He looked over at Wyatt who had grabbed a tablet and was looking at files. "What are you looking for?"

"I had Karen search for any teenage arrests matching Amanda's description in Detroit over the last five years."

"Have her add hospital files on overdoses." Johnny leaned over at looked at Wyatt's tablet. "I have a hunch."

The boys split up Karen's results and started flipping through pictures. Within two hours Bobby looked up from his tablet. "I think I found her."

Peter flipped off the ceiling where he had been crouched and looked over Bobby's shoulder. "Maybe. Johnny...what do you think?"

"That's her." Johnny grabbed the tablet from Bobby and started reading. "Drug overdose 4 years ago. No name but her information lists her as a chronic drug user. They estimated her age at 15 which puts her the same age as us, give or take."

Wyatt leaned back against the sofa from where he was sitting on the floor. "What kind of life have you had if you're classified as a chronic drug user at the age of 15."

Davis shook his head. "Chances are she either ran or was taken by the people who killed her parents. She would have grown up on he streets or worse." He looked over at Johnny, "What made you think to check overdose records?"

Bobby stood up, "You think she got a hit of Terrigen which triggered her powers."

Johnny nodded, "She had what looked like old track marks on her arms. The Terrigen fits with that scenario. Who ever is using her now I think they're probably keeping her clean. She's not stable but I didn't get the impression she was high."

Peter flipped back up to the ceiling and started pacing. "Ok, so Amanda is working for mystery person X and was supposed to be watching someone at the Odyssey?" He looked back down at Johnny for confirmation.

"I'm just supposed to watch...to make sure...". Those were her exact words. Johnny crossed his arms and looked up at Peter. "Think she's watching you?"

Peter shrugged, "Maybe. But why? To make sure of what?"


	104. Chapter 104 - Trust

"Do I need to be worried about the C on your Organic Chemistry test? I've really never had to deal with grades with you so I'm not sure how this is supposed to work." Tony looked at Peter's face on the screen in front of him. He hadn't seen that much anxiety etched on his face in a while. He was purposely trying to make a joke out of it, but he was more than a little worried.

"Dad, it was just an off day." Peter leaned back against the headboard of his bed. "All it did was drop my average from something like a 99.2 to a 97."

"You know I'm not really worried about the grade, right?"

Peter sighed, "I know. I'm just on edge. It's starting to get to me."

Tony scrubbed a hand over his face, "Then come home. Spend a couple days up at the lake and unwind."

"Dad, there's only 4 weeks left of school. I have zero free weekends. Plus, I'm not wild about splitting up the team. Not with everything that's going on." Peter looked at his dad on the screen in front of him. He recognized the worry on his face. "Anything new on the Ross front?"

"Not since Wyatt talked to Nat 2 hours ago. You know all of you are stressing too much about this." Tony started working on his argument in his head for all of them to head out to the lake this weekend. He wasn't sure if any of them were handling the stress.

Peter sighed. "I know. We're trying to force each other to stop obsessing. As their leader I should be the one making sure they're handling this ok, not the opposite way around."

"Pete, stop. You may be the leader but you're missing a big part of being a team. You watch each other's backs...always." Tony paused. He had debated about just taking the armor and having this conversation in person but he was trying to avoid being a helicopter parent. Right now he was regretting that decision. "Do they know you're going out every night?" Tony watched Peter look away from the screen which answered the question for him. "You should tell them."

Peter looked back at the screen. "Dad, it's what's allowing me to unwind even if it is just a little."

"I didn't tell you to stop, just to tell them. It's not like any of them can come with you without creating a scene." Tony watched Peter process what he was saying. One of his favorite things about Peter would always be that he could see the wheels turning in his head. "Kid, I'm ok with you going out because I know swinging and going high helps. I just want to make sure you're not falling back into bad habits. You have a team. Trust them with this."

Peter sighed, "Ok." Wanting to switch subjects away from his spiraling anxiety, he asked "How's Morgan?"

"That wasn't smooth at all." Tony smirked at Peter. "She's fine. An over achiever like the rest of the family. She's not even two but she's acting like every description of 'the terrible twos'." Tony made a last ditch effort, "You know if you came out to the lake for a couple days you could see her. She misses her big brother."

"My deflection may not have been smooth but that was mean to try to use Morgan." Peter smiled at his dad.

"Hey, whatever works. Use the tools at your disposal." Tony wiped the grin from his face, "Seriously kid, if you keep spiraling I'll pull in the even bigger guns and force all of you to the lake for the weekend. Davis can even portal you there."

"Dad..." Peter started to protest but saw the worry on his dad's face again. "We'll think about it. And, I'll tell them I'm going out. Happy?"

"No, but it'll do for now. Pete, I know I don't need to tell you to be careful, but be careful. And don't hesitate to call if you need help. And, realize that I'm going to be the overly obsessive dad until you're home for the summer."

"You mean worse than normal?" Peter asked in mock horror.

"I love you kid."

"Love you too dad." Peter disconnected the call and pushed up off the bed. Tell the team his way of coping with stress was sneaking out at night and free falling off the tall buildings in downtown Boston...this should go great. It doesn't sound crazy at all.

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* * *

Peter chuckled to himself as he swung across the bridge to make his way into downtown Boston. When he had told the other four, the responses had been 'cool', 'do you want company?', 'call if you run into anything', and 'yeah, I know...my bedroom is next to the roof entrance'. It was a lesson learned...he should have trusted them to begin with.

Peter made his way to the tallest building. It was fun to climb, it was almost 100% glass and steel which meant the walls were completely smooth. He scampered to the top and leaned off the antenna holding it with one hand. He looked out over the city. He was starting to get used to the view, even appreciate it. It still wasn't New York but it would do for now. There was a building he had discovered he could web to about 200' down. He knew his dad hated it when he did a free fall and he knew it was because there had been more than a couple times his dad had been forced into a free fall during battles where he hadn't been able to reengage the thrusters until the last minute. Peter wasn't reliant on technology to stop his descent. Just himself. After the web-shooters had failed a couple times they had put in a manual low tech default that Peter could use to get safely to the ground. He launched himself off and enjoyed the feeling of falling. He flung his arm out and fired a web to catch the side of the building and swung around to land on the roof of the building next to it.

He felt his stress levels start drop after about the fifth time. He switched to swinging between the lower buildings. It was pretty late and the streets were far more deserted than New York's ever were. Not completely empty but empty enough that he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye right as his Spidey sense went off. Clinging to the side of a building he focused in the movement in the shadows of an alley. The figure that came out of the shadows was green with pointy ears and it caused his heart rate to skyrocket.

"Peter, what's wrong." Karen asked in his ear.

"Scan the alley and tell me what's there." He didn't trust his eyes at the moment because what he was seeing shouldn't be there.

"One individual. Facial recognition is a 70% match to Norman Osborn's alter ego." Karen paused. "Peter, Norman Osborn is dead."

Peter was reminded in the moment that Karen was an AI and was having trouble interpreting what she was seeing with her sensors. Despite how human the AI's were they still saw everything as 0's and 1's. "But it's actually there right?" Peter was stressed enough that he wouldn't have been surprised if he was hallucinating at this point. He almost wished he were.

"Peter I can confirm that they're is a flesh and blood individual in the alley who is very similar to Norman Osborn's alter ego."

Crap. Peter thought to himself. If he had been in New York he would have engaged and had Karen call for backup. The problem was he wasn't in New York and Spider-Man wasn't supposed to be in Boston. He had gone to extreme measures to make sure the webs were cleaned up before anyone saw them and he had Karen help him avoid all cameras. Engaging now would definitely blow his identity. He opted to stay frozen to the side of the building and observe. He watched the creature dodge in and out of the shadows of the alley. "Karen, switch to night vision."

The figure came into focus on his HUD, the soft green glow illuminating him in the dark. It took Peter a few minutes of watching to figure out what it was doing. "It's testing itself. Seeing what it can do." He murmured to Karen.

"I believe you are correct Peter."

Peter watched until the figure retreated back inside one of he buildings. "Karen, plot the quickest course back to the house."


	105. Chapter 105 - Goblin Redux

Peter paced the living room in front of the boys in various stages of being awake. Johnny was the most awake and Peter suspected it was because he hadn't gone to sleep yet.

"And you're sure it didn't see you?" Johnny asked, arms crossed watching Peter's agitated pace.

Peter stopped for a moment, "Pretty sure. It wasn't concerned about anything else. Just seemed to be exploring what it could do. Discovering it's strength."

Bobby rubbed his hands over his face in an attempt to wake up. "And Karen confirmed you weren't hallucinating?" When the other four stared at him in disbelief that he would even ask that, he shrugged. "What...I wanted to go ahead and rule it out. Let's face it, if any of us were hallucinating I don't think it would be seen as odd at this point. Peter is doing free falls that would freak out anyone, Johnny isn't sleeping, Wyatt is researching everything he can get his hands on, Davis is experimenting with his abilities, and I am spending way too much time in the gym. Hallucinations are only a matter of time."

The rest of them knew he wasn't necessarily wrong, they just didn't like it being shoved into their face. Peter started pacing again. "I'm wasn't hallucinating Bobby. I had Karen check."

"I think it's fairly obvious who it is, I just don't understand why." Wyatt picked up a tablet and pulled up a map of downtown looking at the area Karen had marked indicating where the creature had been. He looked up to find everyone staring at him. "What? I mean it's obviously Harry. I just don't understand why."

Peter frowned. He had been so freaked out he hadn't even thought through who it might be. Harry made a lot of sense now that Wyatt said it. "Harry."

"Yeah. I mean let's start with how he's been acting. I'm surprised Gwen hasn't decked him yet." Wyatt looked over at Peter. "Didn't you say that the data they got from Norman shows that the morphing serum was affecting his brain?" He waited for Peter to nod. "And if anyone would have had access to a cloud server it would have been family." He looked between Peter and Johnny. "Johnny shares a server with Sue and you and Tony share multiple servers. There's a good chance Harry had your file."

Peter sank down onto the sofa. The leap that Wyatt was making was logical. Harry has his file. "If it's Harry then that means he's tied in with Ross, our fixer, Amanda, and Basil. How does that even happen?"

Davis sat down next to Peter. "Well, there's one way to find out." He looked at the group. "Full op. Listening devices, tail him, the whole thing."

Peter sucked in a breath. "Ok, what do we have here? I've got a handful of spider drones & trackers. I can probably make more. We can place them at his apartment, on his car. I've got a smaller one to put maybe somewhere on him or in his backpack."

Wyatt nodded, "Nat gave me some surveillance gear to play around with."

Johnny nodded, "I've got statistics with him. I'll take care of the tagging him. Once we track his schedule one of us can plant a drone in his apartment. The car should be easy."

Peter leaned back and rubbed a hand over his face and looked at Wyatt. "We should probably tell Nat, Steve, and dad, right?"

Wyatt nodded, "Oh definitely. I've been warned multiple times not to, and I quote, 'let Peter pull the crap about not telling anyone about the situation until he's in the middle of a fight because he wants all the answers first'." Wyatt grinned, "There is no way I'm getting on Nat's bad side, although I can appreciate your stance on wanting to know what's going on first."

Johnny laughed, "We just need to make sure we make our case that this does not need to be a full Avenger op."

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* * *

"If you're calling all of us at the same time, something happened." Steve stated the obvious and looked at the five boys in the video screen. Nat was next to him in the command center and Tony was in a separate screen.

"We didn't want to have to explain this multiple times." Peter recognized the look on his dad's face but forged on without commenting. "This is from last night." Peter played the feed showing the creature. He had debated stripping the audio out but his dad would have known and gotten a hold of the original footage. If he thought Peter was overly bothered by the encounter there's no way he would be on board with letting them run with this on their own.

Nat let out the breath she had unconsciously been holding the video was over. She hadn't expected to see the creature again. "Well we know it's not Osborn. I'm assuming you have a theory?"

Peter nodded and glanced over at Wyatt. "We think it's Harry. He's been acting off lately and it's possible he would have had access to his father's servers."

Steve leaned back. "What do you have in mind?"

Wyatt spoke up, "Surveillance. See what it gets us. We can make the logical leap that it's Harry we just can't figure out why or how he's tied in with Ross, our fixer, or Basil."

Peter looked over at Johnny. They had debated about whether to let them know that Firebrand was back. Peter and Johnny both were on the side of not saying anything, although Peter thought they had completely different motivations. Wyatt and Davis had voted for full disclosure. Bobby had been the tie breaker and had ultimately decided to side with Peter and Johnny. So for now, she was staying off everyone's radar.

"If we let you run with this there are ground rules."

Peter turned back to Steve. "Of course."

Nat leaned in front of Steve. "You will not make a move. This is intel gathering only. And, we want access to the video and audio feeds."

"Easy enough to accomplish. Karen can link of the feed. We're planning on using the spider drones." Peter focused on his dads face. So far he had been uncharacteristically quiet.

"Tony, what do you think?" Steve leaned back in his chair.

"Oh, I hate the idea. But I'm leaning towards letting them do it." He looked at the boys. "The only reason I'm considering this is because I think the danger is mitigated by the fact that Harry is still learning how to use his new found abilities. I would rather see if we can find out what's going on instead of waiting for the next thing to happen. We've been able to gather a little bit of intel through outside channels but not enough to paint a full picture. None of you are to go anywhere by yourselves and none of you are to take any risks. Am I clear?"

A chorus of 'yes sirs' sounded from the boys. Peter looked at the screen. "So we're good to proceed?"

Natasha smiled. "Sounds like it. Let me know if you have trouble with any of the equipment."

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* * *

Peter had just enough time to walk into his bedroom before his phone rang. Flipping it over to the video screen he sighed, "Dad..."

"Kid...". Tony looked at Peter, he seemed less stressed than he had last night but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"I know what you're going to say...". Peter cut him off. He had been rehearsing this conversation in his head since they made the decision to tell them what was going on.

"I don't think you do."

"You think we should should let you handle it. But we're not planning on doing anything. We just want to try to see if we can find out what's going on. There's only been a handful of times when any of us have been anywhere on our own since spring break. We'll make sure there's always at least two of us together now. We can do this dad." Peter realized his well rehearsed arguments came out in one breath and hadn't really followed the logical course he had laid out in his head.

Tony sighed. "I said I'd let you do it. But Pete, I know what Osborn did to you, remember? I know you still have problems dealing with it. Facing Harry is just going to stir all of that back up. That's what I'm worried about." Tony looked at Peter. "You five can handle this. You've been trained well. I just want to make sure it doesn't cost you more than you think it will."

Peter looked at his dad. He had expected his argument to center more around the threat of the unknown, not old ghosts. "It freaked me out a little when I saw it." He knew his dad had picked up on his increased heart rate from the video. "But I'm ok. I know he's dead. And I will let you know if I start struggling with it."

Tony studied Peter face. "How much do the others know?"

"All of it. After what happened in California I told them everything I remember and some of the stuff you all filled in." Peter let his dads eyes, "Please let me do this. If I run from it now I'll be running from it the rest of my life."

Tony knew Peter was right but he wanted nothing more than to protect him from all of it. "If you start having nightmares again I want a call...doesn't matter what time. And you cannot just stay awake."

Peter grinned. "I will call you if I start having problems again."

Tony sighed. "You and I know that despite your honest intention for this not to turn into a confrontation that's what's going to end up happening, right?"

Peter nodded. "There's five of us. You said it yourself, were well trained."

"I want to hear from you multiple times a day."

"Dad, I will call you so much you'll get sick of me. Just surveillance. It'll be fine."


	106. Chapter 106 - Escalation

Peter and Wyatt sat in the hallway outside Johnny's statistics class. Keeping their promise to Tony, Steve, and Natasha they were always in groups of 2 or more. None of their group was in Johnny's statistics class so Wyatt and Peter waited for him. There were plenty of people milling about so it wasn't overly odd that Peter and Wyatt were there. Peter glanced down at his watch. The tracker was already active. The plan was for Johnny to plant it on Harry. Once they could establish his pattern they could get inside his apartment and install surveillance equipment. Bobby and Davis had taken care of tagging his car that morning.

Wyatt nudged Peter when the classroom door opened and students started pouring out. Johnny was one of the first ones out so the three of them made their way toward the door leading outside. Peter could tell that Johnny had been successful because the tracker was showing that it was moving about 30 yards behind them which was exactly where Harry was at the moment. Peter looked up when he reached the bottom step and saw Gwen headed their way.

"What are you two doing on this side of campus?" Gwen stopped in front of Peter, Wyatt, and Johnny.

"We were meeting Johnny after class. We've got a project we need to work on for another class." Wyatt glanced back as Harry caught up with the group.

Gwen kissed Harry on the cheek as she continued moving towards the building they had just left. "It's like we're tag teaming the math building. I'll see you after class Harry. Peter, Wyatt, Johnny...see you out tonight?" She didn't wait for an answer just waved over her head as she walked into the building.

Peter had turned to watch her walk up when his Spidey sense forced him to take a step back, missing most of a violent shove from Harry. "What the hell Harry?" Peter looked at Harry's face that had turned into a vile twisted version of itself. Johnny and Wyatt had both moved to position themselves between Peter and Harry.

"Stay away from her!" Harry spit the words out.

Wyatt took a step towards Harry. "No one is interested in Gwen as anything other than a friend, but if you keep this up, she will drop you in a heartbeat." Wyatt looked at Harry. He and Johnny were the taller of the five boys and Wyatt had learned how to move his body to project an even more imposing figure than his 6'4" frame was normally. He didn't move his eyes from Harry's eyes until Harry took a step backwards, his face resuming its normal facade.

Harry's eyes darted between the three boys. Steeling himself, he pushed his way through them, leaving them staring after him.

"Oh, yeah, he's definitely the Goblin." Wyatt grinned at the look the other two gave him. "It was either Goblin or Orc...I thought Goblin fit it...him better."

Peter shook his head watching Harry retreat. "You've been reading too much Tolkien. I'm just glad he didn't transform. Not sure we could have kept that quiet." He looked down at his watch. "Tracker is in place. Let's go meet Bobby and Davis."

* * *

xxxxxxxxxx

The group sat around their normal table at the Odyssey. Karen fed all of Harry's movements to Peter's watch which meant they could keep tabs on where he was regardless of where they were. Davis portaled Wyatt and Bobby into Harry's apartment when they realized he had a late lab. Surveillance equipment installed, Karen recorded audio and video and would filter down segments for them to review when they got home.

Peter looked over at the door when Gwen walked in and then glanced down at his watch. The tracker on Harry still showed him and his car at his apartment. He smiled at Gwen when she slid into a chair at their table. "I'm surprised Harry isn't with you."

"Harry is a jerk right now." Gwen sighed and reached over and grabbed a piece of pizza. "I cannot wait for this semester to be over."

Bobby smiled sympathetically at Gwen. "Sorry Gwen. Would it make you feel better if you beat me at pool?"

"Maybe." She smiled at Bobby and glanced over at Peter. "I definitely don't want to play Peter tonight."

Peter smiled. "My pool career is over. You can stay the reigning champion."

Gwen laughed. "Do I get some kind of banner?"

"I can probably work something out." Peter's tone sobered a little. "You know if you ever need help, you can call us. Right? Any of us day or night."

Gwen's facade broke for a moment but was instantly replaced with the confidence they were used to. "I know. And I appreciate it. I think I have it under control through."

Bobby stood up, "Come on, there's an open table."

Peter waited until Bobby had pulled Gwen away from their table before looking down at his watch again. Karen had pinged it to let him know that Harry was moving. Wyatt looked over and studied the watch. "Where is he going?"

Peter shrugged, "Not here." They watched it until he came to a stop. "It's a warehouse down by the river." Peter glanced over at Davis. "Want to go on a field trip tonight after he leaves?"

Davis grinned. "Definitely!"

* * *

xxxxxxxxxx

The blue glow from the portal faded behind Peter and Davis as they switched on flashlights. "Karen, scan the building and make sure there's no one here."

"There's no one in the building, although there are quite a few life forms." Karen responded from Peter's watch.

"Life forms? What's that supposed to mean?" Peter frowned as his light flashed around the room.

"I'm picking up a few different wildlife species. Raccoons, squirrels, rats..."

"Eww...ok, only concerned about people right now." Peter glanced over at Davis who was rummaging though papers on a table. Peter headed over to the other side of the room. For a building full of rats and squirrels there was an impressive amount of lab equipment. Peter looked over some of the equipment. "Karen this looks like everything you would need to replicate dna."

"You are correct Peter."

"Hey...found your file." Davis called from the other side of the room. He had a laptop turned on and was scrolling through information.

Peter walked over and looked over Davis's shoulder. It only took reading a couple lines to know that Davis had found Osborn's lab notes. "Yeah...". He took a couple steps backwards and looked at the notebooks scattered across the table.

"It's odd, you're not mentioned by name at all. He just keeps referencing his creation." Davis frowned as he continued skimming through the file looking for Peter's name. They had all heard Peter's version of the story. Osborn's notes made it abundantly clear that he was just getting started and Peter definitely didn't remember all of it. Davis looked over at Peter. "He seemed pretty proud of you in a sick, sadistic way."

"Not me, his creation...which just creeps me out." Peter picked up one of the notebooks and started flipping through it. The front half of the notebook was full of precise, neat notes. The further he flipped through the notebook the more erratic the writing became until it was nothing more than an illegible scrawl. He stopped on a page and stared down at it. It read 'Peter Parker is Spider-Man'. Hatred and anger oozed from the page. He tucked the notebook into his jacket pocket. Based on what he was seeing Harry wouldn't miss it. He thought the serum must be messing with his brain pretty badly at this point. "Find anything else."

"Yeah, this looks like it might be the morphing serum notes...maybe." He glanced over at the equipment. "I think he was tasked with cloning the Skrull DNA segments that were used in the serum." Davis looked over at Peter. "Which means Ross didn't have the complete formula."

Peter shrugged. "Keeping that part of it would have been a smart move on Osborn's part. Feed them just enough to keep them off his back while making himself indispensable. With Norman gone they would have been trying to get their hands on his research. Maybe they jumped to the same conclusion Wyatt did and made contact with Harry with the intent of using him to gain access to Norman's files."

Davis picked up another notebook. "The serum is definitely messing with his head. Half of these are complete nonsense."

Peter shook his head, he wasn't sure if the damage could be reversed at this point. "I don't think we're going to find much more. Let's head back."


	107. Chapter 107 - The Warehouse, part 1

Peter flipped through the notebook, stopping periodically to read notes in the margins. He had similar notebooks, although for the most part he had transitioned to using a tablet. But, for special projects he would still revert back to a notebook. It's what he had used when he started, as May always called, 'playing in the lab'. The notes in the margins weren't always related to the project at hand. They were usually thoughts that popped in his head in the middle of trying to solve another problem. Harry's margin notes were similar. Some of them were simple reminders, some were far more interesting. 'ZS' appeared more than once. The same initials that had appeared in the lab notes in California that no one had been able to trace yet. The most interesting note by far was the one indicating that there was a meeting set up with 'Ross' related to the morphing serum. From what Peter could tell, Harry had insisted on meeting with him face to face before he would turn over the Skrull dna splice needed to complete the morphing serum.

"Your dad and Nat didn't seem to be surprised." Bobby commented from the other side of the table. The others were in a late lab for another hour, so Bobby and Peter had spent time going back over the notebook.

When Peter and Davis had returned the night before, the had found the entry and called Nat. Tony happened to be at the compound at the time so Peter had already gotten the lecture about how risky it was to portal into the building.

"I think they had probably connected him through other channels but this definitely connects Harry to the overall plan...whatever that is." Peter kept flipping the notebook. There were fewer and fewer margin notes as he got towards the back where his name was scrawled. It was as if less and less of Harry was actually there. There wasn't much to point him in the direction of how Harry had found out about Spider-Man. ZS was connected to both Harry and what happened in California so it made sense that ZS probably knew who he was...he just wasn't sure how. He glanced up when Bobby's phone rang.

Bobby tapped it to answer. "Hey Gwen...". Frowning, he pulled it down to make sure it was connected. "Gwen...". All he heard was the muffled sound of a car. He was about to hang up when he heard Gwen's voice, although he could tell she wasn't speaking into the phone.

_"Harry, stop the car."_

Bobby flipped it over to speaker. Peter could tell from the look on his face something was wrong.

Peter could hear Harry's voice but it sounded muffled. He sounded almost manic.

_"You wanted to know what was going on...what was wrong with me."_

Peter glanced at Bobby. Reaching over he tapped the mute button on Bobby's phone. Once he knew his voice wouldn't be heard he tapped his watch. "Karen, find Harry's car. I need to know where they are."

Peter grabbed his keys knowing Karen would get a location. Bobby followed him out, careful to keep the call connected. Pulling out of the garage Peter glanced down at his watch. Flicking it over to 3D, he and Bobby both studied the path Harry's car was taking.

"It looks like he's headed towards the warehouse." Bobby frowned. The warehouse was on the other side of the river. It would take them way longer than either of them wanted.

Peter glanced at the 3D map display to confirm the direction Harry was headed and accelerated onto the on-ramp. "Karen, see if you can block any police scanners and route them away from me." Luckily rush hour was going the other direction and he could move smoothly in and out of traffic. He glanced down at the speedometer. He was glad that since becoming a proficient driver, every time he was at the compound Nat or Bucky had taken him out to work on what Nat called defensive driving. Bucky's called it what it was...how to drive when you need to get somewhere or get away from somewhere really fast without killing yourself or anyone else.

Bobby was still listening to Gwen and Harry. "Get out the car Gwen!" Harry yelled as Bobby heard one door slam and Gwen screamed when the other one opened. Bobby glanced over at Peter. "He pulled her out of the car." A door slammed again and silence was heard from Gwen's phone. He put his phone down, still leaving it connected. "Her phone's in the car." He looked ahead and realized they were almost to the exit that would take them to the warehouse district. They should be there in less than a minute.

Peter maneuvered through the tighter surface streets arriving at the warehouse. "Karen, text the others and tell them to get here. Give them real time updates so they know what they're portaling into." He took a deep breath as he got out of the car. "Relay all of the info to FRIDAY." He was fairly sure they could take down Harry without a problem, he was just more worried about the fall out after the fact. And he had no way of containing Harry long term. His only option would be to knock him out and wait for SHIELD to contain him. He looked over at Bobby. "Don't ice up yet. Let's see if we can talk him down."

"Peter, Harry and Gwen are on the second floor in the lab area you were in before."

Bobby pulled open the door and they entered quietly. They could hear Harry and Gwen yelling at each other from the floor above. Locating the stairs up they silently ascended and paused at the top to orient themselves. Wanting to remain hidden as long as possible they slipped along the wall and stayed in the shadows until they could see Gwen and Harry. Harry had a tight grip on Gwen's arm.

"Harry, let me go. When you calm down and go back to being the Harry I know we can talk and figure this out." Gwen was astonishingly calm for the situation.

"This is who I am. Maybe you'd prefer it if I were someone else?" Harry's voice dripped with hatred. The mania that could be heard earlier was still there as an underlying tone but Gwen's comment had brought to the surface all of the anger that had been festering over the last couple weeks after he had been told what had happened to his father. "Maybe Wyatt...".

Peter and Bobby watched Harry morph into the facade that looked like their friend. Peter had only seen Norman morph into the green guy so seeing Harry morph into Wyatt was unsettling. Gwen had screamed in response and pulled against Harry as he continued to morph into Davis, then Johnny, them Bobby, then finally Peter.

"I was your second choice when you found out Peter wasn't interesting in you in anything other than a friend. I've apparently always been second choice after Peter. You know my father preferred him too." He violently pulled Gwen close to him. "There's a lot you don't know about Peter."

Gwen mustered her strength and instead of pulling against Harry, suddenly pushed in his direction, putting both of them off balance, sending them both crashing to the ground. It was enough for Gwen to roll out of the way. She looked over when she heard voices from across the room.

"Harry, stop." Peter and Bobby stepped into the room. "Let Gwen leave with Bobby and you and I can work this out." Peter approached Harry with his hands raised in front of him. He saw Gwen scoot across the floor to put more distance between herself and Harry. He was far enough away from both of them that his chance of webbing Harry up or pulling Gwen further away was slim.

The facade that had been Peter morphed back into Harry. "Of course you're here..."

"Harry, the serum is messing with your brain. This isn't you. We can get you the help you need." Peter continued to walk towards him.

"I don't need help. I've never felt stronger. Do you know the things I can do now?" Harry's eyes darted to Bobby who was moving towards Gwen. "I don't think so." He darted to Gwen's side and jerked her to her feet again, using her to ensure that Peter and Bobby didn't get too close.

"I know what you're capable of...but the rest of you is still in there somewhere. Let Gwen go. If you're mad at me, then you and I can work it out." Peter inched closer to Harry, looking for an opening. He had been hoping to talk Harry into letting Gwen go, but the odds of that happening were going down by the second.

"Mad at you?" Harry screamed incredulously. "You took everything I had. You're the reason I'm like this. I hate you!"

Bobby tilted his head and looked at Harry. "Peter didn't do this to you. Just like your father, you're making your own choices."

Harry twisted to look at Bobby, swinging Gwen with him. "He killed him!"

"Harry, you've read your fathers file on Peter. He stalked, captured, and tortured him. What happened to your father is entirely his own doing." Bobby moved closer to Harry and he could see Peter forming his web-shooters. Talking Harry down wasn't going to work. They both knew it at this point. Now the goal was getting Gwen away from him.

Gwen gasped as Harry tightened his grip around her. "Harry, let me go. You're hurting me." She twisted to look up at him. "If you ever cared anything about me then let me go."

Harry's face softened a little and he looked down at her. He released his grip a little. "Gwen..."

His relaxed grip was enough for Gwen to push herself away from him. She felt him stumble behind her and then felt him lose his grip. Knowing it might be her only opportunity she pulled completely free and ran towards Bobby and Peter. She heard a cackle behind her as she reached the area leading to the stairs. Stopping she turned to look. A large green creature had taken Harry's place. After seeing Harry morph previously she knew it was him. All she saw was the creature moving impossibly fast towards her. Stumbling backwards she realized how close to the stairs she was as she tumbled down them backwards.

The creature broke through the ice barrier Bobby had thrown up as well as freeing himself from the webs Peter had wrapped him up in. Mindlessly pursuing Gwen, he found himself blocked by a wall of flames.


	108. Chapter 108 - The Warehouse, Part 2

Peter's suit formed around him as he flicked a web towards the rafters and swung up, landing a kick into the creature's back. It was enough force to a cause the creature to fly into the wall, crashing through it. Peter's trajectory carried him through the hole after the creature. Landing behind him, he ducked as the creature hurled a table at him.

Bobby slid into the room behind the creature and fired a series of ice spears at it. Peter took advantage of the distraction to fire full strength taser webs. The tasers seemed to just slow the creature down a little...and make it really mad. Peter watched the creature pick up another table, equipment scattering, and launch it in his direction. He realized he didn't have any room to maneuver and braced to take the hit until it disappeared into a portal in front of him and reappeared over the creature dropping it on its head.

Johnny and Wyatt appeared behind Peter as he flipped up and over the creature. Wyatt landed another well placed kick sending the creature flying backwards but not knocking it off it's feet. Peter glanced over at Johnny who fired a volley of fireballs at the creature, scorching its skin where they made contact. Angered, the creature rushed towards Johnny and tackled him, pushing him into the landing leading to the steps. Peter and Bobby were the closest and followed the two. Peter flung a web catching one of the creature's arms to keep it from coming down. It didn't seem to care that it's hands were burning when it touched Johnny.

Johnny turned up the heat and drove the creature backwards into the immovable object that was Bobby's ice form. Bobby wrapped both arms around the creature and held it in place. "How are we planning on containing him?" Bobby asked as the creature struggled against him.

"Still working that out." Peter fired webs at his feet hoping to at least tangle him up if he got free from Bobby. He glanced down the stairs which still held a wall of fire. It was pretty impressive. He hadn't thought Johnny could hold something so long while fighting. "Did you see Gwen on your way up?"

Johnny followed his line of sight. "Uh...we portaled into the room you were in. That isn't me." Before the could move they looked back at Bobby and the creature, just catching the sight of them crashing through the floor as it gave out beneath them. Wyatt and Davis had overheard the conversation about the fire. "You two go that way, we'll make sure Bobby is ok." Davis created a portal as Johnny and Peter dashed down the stairs through the wall of fire.

Johnny reached the floor first. Kneeling over an unconscious Gwen was Amanda, holding the wall of fire in place. He skidded to a stop in front of her and knelt down next to Gwen.

"I didn't get here in time. All I could do was keep him from coming after her." Amanda looked up at Johnny, flames flickering off her body

Peter skidded next to Johnny. "Karen, scan Gwen."

"She needs medical attention Peter. I believe she has a skull fracture from the fall."

Peter looked at Johnny. "Stay with them. We'll contain Harry." Peter got up and headed towards the other three. Amanda was doing a good job of containing the wall of fire but between the fire balls Johnny threw and some of the equipment upstairs exploding during the fight, the rest of the building was now on fire. He made his way to where he thought the others had landed. The creature had broken free of Bobby and the webs and was currently rotating attacks between Wyatt, Davis, and Bobby. Davis at least had tactical gear on thanks to his ability to use the nanotech. Wyatt was still in jeans and a t-shirt.

Bobby iced the floor causing the creature to slide into a wall. Peter flung a web to the ceiling and used it to propel himself into the fight. They needed to end this soon. The smoke was already billowing in from the hole in the ceiling. Peter landed in front of the creature. "Harry, Gwen's hurt. We need to get her out of here."

The creature turned around and launched itself towards Peter. Peter reared his fist back and hit the creature in the jaw. The other three watched in fascination as the creature crumpled to the floor.

"You couldn't have done that ten minutes ago?" Wyatt skidded behind Peter and watched the creature transform back into Harry.

Peter shrugged. "I really hadn't been close enough. Plus I hate the way it feels." He shuttered slightly. He had felt Harry's jaw bone crunch under the impact from his fist.

Davis and Bobby walked up next to them. Bobby looked up at the flames flickering down the walls. "Building's on fire. We might want to get out of here."

Over the sound of the fire, Peter could hear sirens in the distance. Wyatt had already knelt down next to Harry and was in the process of picking him up and securing his over his shoulder. Peter led the way back to Gwen.

"I can hear sirens. Davis, portal Bobby, Johnny, and Amanda our of here." Peter looked over at Wyatt, "Think we can talk our way out of this?" Peter didn't have an option. His car was here. And, there's no way he could get Gwen and Harry out by himself so Wyatt was stuck with him.

Johnny stood up and watched Davis open a portal. He reached his hand down to Amanda. Grabbing it, their flames intertwined a moment before both extinguishing. Johnny squeezed her hand. "You'll be safe with us."

Amanda held on to his hand a moment before pulling it free. "I can't." Meeting his eyes she added "I'm sorry" before turning and running further into the building.

They could all hear the sirens now. "We don't have time. We'll find her." Peter squeezed Johnny's shoulder before kneeling down and scooping Gwen up in his arms. The armor had already retreated. Wyatt and Peter watched the trio leave through the portal then made their way towards the front entrance.

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* * *

Tony pulled open the door and walked into the police station. Oddly enough, it hadn't changed much since his days at MIT. Of course, he had actually been arrested then, not just being questioned by the police, but part of him found humor in the symmetry. Howard had been pissed off when he had bailed him out.

Tony wasn't pissed off, at least not at Peter. He was slightly irritated that Peter and Wyatt had been detained, but Pepper had made him promise that he wouldn't get himself arrested in the process of getting Peter and Wyatt released. The sergeant at the desk had been expecting him so he was immediately escorted to the captain's office.

"Mr. Stark...". The captain rose and extended his hand.

"Yeah, not here for pleasantries. I want my son and his friend released immediately. I also understand Peter's car was towed. I want it delivered to his house by tomorrow morning and there better not be a scratch on it." Tony crossed his arms and looked through the tinted lenses of his glasses. "Where are they?"

The captain took a deep breath and moved around his desk. "Follow me." He led Tony down a hall. "They were just being questioned about the fire. There's a lot of questions that need to be answered and they're the only ones we can talk to right now."

"I'm not overly concerned about your questions." Tony waited for the captain to open the door. Inside, Peter and Wyatt were sitting at a table with a guard standing by the door. "You felt the need to guard them?" Tony asked incredulously.

Peter and Wyatt stood up. "Hey dad." Peter walked around the table with Wyatt on his heels. "Thanks for coming."

"Thanks Mr. Stark." Wyatt added as he made his way through the door.

Tony ignored the captain and led the boys back down the hall the way he came. Once outside he pulled open the back door and waited for both boys to get in before following them. "Happy, head to the house." He looked at Peter and Wyatt. "Are you two ok?"

Peter nodded. "How's Gwen?"

"Skull fracture. She's in a medically induced coma until the swelling goes down." Tony knew there was no reason to sugar coat it. He watched Peter turn away and look out the window. He knew the fact that Gwen was hurt as bad as she was would weigh pretty heavy on him.

Wyatt looked over at Tony. "And Harry?"

"SHIELD took him into custody. The story they went with was a contagious neurotoxin. I don't know much past that. They'll probably keep him sedated until they have a plan." Tony reaches over and squeezed Peter's shoulder. "You all did everything right. You probably kept Gwen from getting killed."

Peter nodded but didn't look over at Tony or Wyatt. "Everyone make it back to the house ok?"

Tony smiled. "Yeah, and you've got a houseful right now. So I hope neither one of you was expecting a quiet day."

Peter pulled his eyes away from the window and looked at his dad. "What do you mean a houseful?"

"You had Karen basically live stream the fight. Nat, Steve, Bucky, Sam, and Clint are all hanging out at your house, although I think they're trying to call it a temporary command center. You're actually lucky Pepper didn't put her suit on and come herself. She was at the compound and saw most of it before I convinced her she needed to stay and take care of Morgan." He pulled out his phone. "By the way, call her and let her know you're ok."

Peter groaned and took the phone. Hitting dial he waited for Pepper's face to appear.

Wyatt stifled a laugh as Pepper launched into a two minute verbal onslaught about how worried she had been, and asking multiple times if Peter and the other boys were ok. Tony leaned over into the frame. "See Pep, he's fine. I'll let you know when I'm heading back."

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* * *

Tony followed the boys into the house. As expected, the living room and kitchen was full. Nat, Steve, and Bucky were at the table with Johnny going through data. Everybody else was on the couch, PlayStation controllers in their hands.

Natasha looked up when they walked in and smiled. "No trouble getting them released?"

Tony gave Nat a look that said 'I'm Tony Stark...of course I didn't have trouble getting them released' as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

Peter and Wyatt sat down at the table. "What are you doing?" Peter looked at the tablet in front of Natasha.

"Looking for Zeke S." Johnny leaned back in his chair.

Peter looked over in surprise. "You got a name?"

Johnny nodded, "After you went to help with Harry, Amanda filled in some of the blanks. Based on her description, Zeke is our fixer. He pulled her off the streets and used her. One of her jobs was trying to flush you out last fall."

"The fires?" Peter looked at everyone around the table for confirmation.

Johnny nodded. "She wasn't watching any of us that night I found her. Zeke sent her to watch Harry. He thought Harry had taken the serum and was unstable. I think he was worried about him exposing their plan." He took a sip of his water before glancing over at Steve. "She's scared of Zeke. I think its why she wouldn't come with us."

Steve nodded. "We can protect her and get her whatever help she needs."

Peter looked around the table. "What I don't get is why Harry would take the serum."

Johnny looked down at his own tablet before looking back over at Peter. "I don't know and so far we have not actually found a Zeke that would fit in any database."

Tony frowned as a memory popped into his head. An overheard conversation from years ago. "Try Ezekiel."

Natasha looked over at Tony. "Ok...why? I know that look."

Tony shook his head. "A memory of a piece of a conversation from a long time ago. Just let me know what you find."


	109. Chapter 109 - Home For Summer

Finals came and went. The boys packed up and returned to New York for the summer. Peter was currently laying on the floor of the living room, letting Morgan use his back as her play area. According to her, he was a mountain that was going to wake up and knock everything off. Tony walked into the living room coffee cup in hand. "How was last night?"

Peter rotated his head slightly so he wouldn't disturb whatever Morgan was building. "Amazing! You have no idea how much I missed it. Miles has finals all week so there won't be two of us, we'll work something out for the rest of the summer."

Tony smiled at Peter's enthusiasm. "When does MJ get back?"

"This afternoon." He glanced over at his dad. "Is anyone going to tell me how many times someone tried to grab her?" It had been an ongoing argument. Peter had suspected there had been an incident a couple weeks ago but MJ wouldn't tell him anything. She had video called him to prove that she was ok but Peter could tell something had happened.

"Just the one time. Nakia made sure that they would think twice about coming after her again." Tony sat back and watched Peter process what he had just said. It had been a long discussion that had ended up involving not only himself and MJ but also Pepper, Steve, Natasha, T'Challa, and Nakia. It had happened in the middle of everything with Harry. Tony suspected they were hoping to lure Peter and maybe even Wyatt away from Boston so they could contain Harry themselves.

Peter growled and looked back at the TV which was currently showing Morgan's favorite cartoon. "You know you should have told me, right?"

"Not when you're so stressed you're doing 200 ft free falls from skyscrapers." Tony took a sip of his coffee and looked at the back of Peter's head. He smiled when Peter growled again. "When you get done pouting and after MJ gets settled, invite her over for dinner."

Peter twisted his head around again and gave his dad a look of suspicion. "What are you planning?"

"Dinner. Think tomorrow will work?"

Peter scowled at his dad knowing full well it was more than dinner. "Hand me my phone."

Tony set his coffee on the end table and picked up Peter's phone, handing it to him. "Let's try for a late dinner...maybe 7pm. Here. You can take her home then go out as Spider-Man."

Peter twisted back around and started typing. _"Dad wants to know if you can come over for dinner tomorrow. 7pm. Something is up. Oh...also...you two should have told me..."_. He hit send knowing he was probably picking a fight. He glanced back down when a message pinged a few seconds later.

_"Ok for dinner. You had other things to worry about. I was fine."_

Peter grumbled at the phone and turned back to his dad. "7 is fine." He felt a tap on his back and he turned to look at Morgan.

"M'tn wake!"

Peter smiled and acted like he was yawning and arched his back, letting Morgan's city tumble to the ground. The giggles coming from Morgan made him laugh. He rolled over on top of the toys and started tickling her.

Pepper walked into the room, slipping on a suit jacket. "Oh good, Peter's taken over the mountain duties." She looked down at Tony. "Did he ask MJ about dinner?"

Tony nodded. "7 is good."

Peter looked up at Pepper. If Pepper was involved maybe it was SI related. But then why would they want MJ there. Maybe it was parent related...but that didn't make any sense either. Except for the break last year, MJ and Peter had been in a relationship for years and there had never been any kind of 'talk' involving both of them.

"Wheels...turning...stop over analyzing." Tony nudged him with his foot. "What are you doing today?"

Peter shrugged. "I thought I'd see if Ned wanted to do something. If he's busy I may see if Johnny and Wyatt are free. Or I may just go out as Spider-Man."

Tony nodded. The only reason he was ok with Peter going off by himself in the city was because there wasn't anywhere that he couldn't get to in less than 2 minutes and Pete could hold his own for more than that long. They had increased the watch's energy tolerance and the nanotechnology automatically deployed the suit if a change was detected.

Peter grabbed his phone again and typed out a quick text to Ned. _"Are you free today? I thought maybe we could hang out. Maybe hit Delmar's for lunch?"_ Peter hadn't seen Ned since the incident in California. By the time Ned had made it back to New York, Peter had been in middle of the incident with Harry and trying to make it through finals. It didn't take long for a return text.

_"Can you come by the apartment?"_

Peter smiled and typed his response. _"Be there in about an hour."_ He rolled over and looked up at his dad. Morgan had crawled up on the couch and snuggled next to him. "I'm getting dressed then heading over to Ned's. I'll let you know if I go out as Spider-Man."

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* * *

Peter took the steps at Ned's apartment building two at a time. It almost felt like old times. Knocking on the door he could hear Mrs. Leeds' footsteps on the other side. He smiled when she pulled open the door. "Hey Mrs. Leeds!"

"Hi Peter. Ned is in his room." She closed the door behind Peter.

Peter made his way through the familiar apartment. Ned's door was half open so he pushed it all the open and walked in. "Hey Ned!"

Ned lunged to his feet and bear hugged him. "Hey! How were finals?"

Peter shrugged. "They were finals. I'm glad to have a break for a couple months." Peter slid into Ned's desk chair as Ned sat back down on his bed. "How are you doing?" Peter scrutinized Ned. He looked like he had lost a little weight but not in a good way.

"I'm ok after what happened in California." He twisted his head around to show Peter the back of his neck. "Didn't even leave a scar." Turning back around he looked at Peter and lowered his voice. "Mom on the other hand is completely over reacting. I think I've only left the house by myself twice since coming home. You have got to break me out."

Peter chuckled. "It can't be that bad."

Ned shook his head. "It's worse. She's afraid something will happen so she won't let me out of her sight. I'm about to resort to sneaking out but I suspect she might have put an alarm on my window."

Peter shook his head and tapped his watch. "Karen, scan Ned's room for any kind of sensors or alarms on the doors and windows." A moment later 'No devices found' appeared on the face of his watch. He flipped it around to show Ned. "You're clear."

Ned laughed. "I don't know...she probably has other ways..."

"Let's go down to Delmar's. I haven't had a smushed sandwich in ages." Peter stood up and waited for Ned to join him.

"You're going to have to convince mom." Ned looked up at Peter and sighed as he stood up.

Peter led him out of his room. "Mrs. Leeds, were going to run down to Delmar's. Can we pick anything up for you?"

Mrs. Leeds started to object but between Ned's pleading face and Peter's innocent one, she couldn't say no. "You'll come right home?"

A smile spread across Ned's face. "Yes. Delmar's and back."

Mrs. Leeds looked over at Peter. "Is your father in the city today?"

Peter thought it was an odd question until he realized that she was asking about Iron Man. "He's at the tower." He held up his watch. "Panic button still works." After the incident at the 2nd homecoming dance it had become common knowledge among his friends that Peter had a panic button on his watch and that was how Tony had gotten there as quickly as he had. Peter smiled at Mrs. Leeds again. "We'll be fine."

Mrs. Leeds grimaced. "I suppose." She glanced over at Ned. "Delmar's and then home."

Ned was almost bouncing. "Of course, love you mom." He darted out of the apartment with Peter trailing behind him. Once the door closed he glanced back at Peter. "We are taking the long way."

xxxxxxxxxx

MJ glanced down at her watch. _"Roof?"_ She smiled and glanced around her room that was in complete disarray. It was almost 11pm and she felt like she had been unpacking most of the day. She knew both of her parents were asleep but she still didn't want to risk going out the front door so she pulled her window open and climbed up the fire escape. Climbing onto the roof she saw Peter crouched by the edge looking at the city below. "Hey!"

Peter rose and turned around, a smile immediately appearing across his face. "Hey!" Meeting halfway, he felt MJs arms wrap around his neck. He had missed this. He had missed her. When they had gotten back together they had done it with the knowledge that they were in different cities. Now, the anticipation of being able to spend the summer together was almost overwhelming. Kissing her, he murmured "I've missed you."

MJ pulled back after a few minutes and looked at Peter. "So my parents dropped a bombshell on me when I got home. They're moving. Out of New York. The lease runs out of on the apartment at the end of July so they're going to transition over the next two months."

Peter frowned, "You can't move. It makes no sense for you to move for a month just to head back to Princeton."

MJ sighed. "I know. I'm not sure where I'm finding an apartment for a month or how I'm paying for it."

"Move in with me."

MJ almost laughed, "Tony and Pepper might have something to say about your girlfriend living with you."

"That's not what I mean. The tower has a gazillion rooms. Dad built out the entire floor below ours when he moved the Avengers there when he was remodeling the compound. Plus Pepper had guest suites added on the lower floors for SI VIP guests." It was the perfect solution in Peter's head. Plus MJ would be even closer then.

MJ studied Peter. She could see him already planning out moving her into the tower. "Maybe. We can ask them tomorrow."

Peter was already cycling through which area would be best and whether it made sense for her to even move stuff from her parents apartment. Most of the rooms were already furnished. "I'll talk to dad in the morning." He looked back over at her. "Ok, problem solved. Anything else need to be fixed?"

MJ laughed and pulled him over to one of the walls and sat down, pulling him down next to her. "You know that's one of the things I love about you. I think a lot of guys would have been more interested in the fact that they could potentially shack up with their girlfriend for a couple months. You're just solving the problem."

Peter frowned, "MJ, I don't see us as a short term thing that would ever involve 'shacking up'..."

MJ could see Peter's anxiety over her comment rise exponentially, "Good, neither do I. When I asked to get into the boxes I intended to stay in the boxes, you know that, right? I'm not going anywhere."

Relief spread through Peter although it was quickly replaced by even more anxiety. If he wasn't going anywhere and she wasn't going anywhere it meant they'd be together...forever...which meant married? Maybe not, Tony and Pepper didn't get married for a really long time. He realized he didn't know her stance on that. He also didn't even know if she wanted kids, or not. He didn't know if he wanted kids...he wasn't even sure if he could have kids. Gamma radiation tended to cause problems and that was one he wasn't sure if the Spider fixed or not. The entire 'spider-babies' conversation with Pepper came roaring back into his head. It came to a crashing halt when MJ leaned over and kissed him.

"How many steps out did you get? Marriage? Kids?" MJ smirked at him.

Peter took a deep breath and nodded. He loved that MJ knew where his brain headed and was always able to center him. "We haven't talked about any of that. Do you even want to get married? How about kids?"

MJ spun around to face him with her legs crossed in front of her. "Married, yes. But probably not until after graduation. Kids...I'm open. I probably don't want to jump into having kids but maybe eventually."

Peter looked at her. "What if I can't. Gamma radiation tends to mess with...well, a lot of stuff."

"Then we adopt if we want kids. Or, we don't have kids. It's not a make or break thing for me." She grabbed his hands and held them. "Did we answer all of the big questions?"

Peter smiled. "MJ...I love you."

MJ smirked in response. "I love you too."


	110. Chapter 110 - Dinner

Peter bounced his legs sitting at the kitchen bar waiting for his dad to take a couple sips of coffee.

"Spiderling...you're about to vibrate out of your seat." Tony took another sip of coffee. He always found it entertaining when Peter was bursting to tell him something.

"So MJ's parents are moving and they're planing on being completely out of their apartment by the end of July and it doesn't make sense for MJ to move to just head back to Princeton a couple weeks later. So I was thinking that she could move in here...well, not here here but tower here. Either where the Avengers were or maybe one of the guest suites SI has downstairs." Peter took a breath. "What do you think."

Tony looked over the rim of his coffee cup. His brain was still catching up with Peter's mouth. "Where are they moving?"

"Minnesota. How crazy is that? Her dad got a job with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester." Peter's knee was still bouncing. "So what do you think?"

"I think it's not a bad idea. We can talk about it tonight." Tony took another sip of coffee. "So how are you two doing?"

Peter froze. He really hadn't been expecting a dad talk. He had been so focused on the problem at hand he had shoved the rest of the conversation from last night out of the way. "Uh...good. Really good actually." Peter frowned. "So we talked about maybe future things."

"Maybe Future things?" Tony smirked. It was fun when Peter was uncomfortable about a subject.

Peter took a deep breath. He actually wanted to talk to his dad about some of this. "Future thing's like when we graduate." He frowned a little while he tried to figure out what he actually wanted to talk about. "Like maybe getting married. I mean we're way too young for it now but when we're both done with undergrad maybe." He looked over at his dad. "What do you think? Is it stupid to even talk about this now? Is it fair to MJ? Spending the rest of your life with Spider-Man is a lot to ask."

Tony smiled. "I think MJ is good for you. And Spider-Man isn't too hard to handle. She's already in the boxes. She knows what to expect." He took another sip. "I do think waiting until you're out of college makes sense." He put his coffee cup down and looked at Peter. "What about the rest of it?"

Peter took another deep breath. "She said kids aren't a deal breaker for her and that she's be ok with any of the options."

"And you." This was the part Tony was worried about. He knew the risks the gamma radiation had posed to Peter probably better than Peter did. The radiation that he had been hit with when he had been bitten by the Spider was fairly low but it didn't take much. Peter had never exhibited any side effects so it seemed like the Spider was dealing with anything that might come up. But, while Dr. Cho screened Peter for all of the 'scary stuff' as Peter called it, checking to see if he could actually have kids wasn't one of the things they checked.

"She mentioned that she would even be ok adopting which isn't something I've thought about but now that she's said it...". He looked over at his dad. "If it weren't for May and Ben I could have easily ended up in an orphanage. So the idea of adopting has some appeal."

Tony smiled, as always the kid surprised the heck out of him at every turn. Peter was so good with kids. He was great with Morgan but Tony has also seen how he interacted with kids at the hospital over the years. "I think you and MJ have your heads screwed on straight and will be fine with whatever you decide to do."

Pepper walked into the kitchen. "You two look way too serious for this early in the morning."

Tony picked up his coffee and finished it. "Pete asked if MJ could move in and I said sure." He grinned over the rim at Peter before walking over to the coffee pot to refill it.

"That's not exactly what I said." Peter turned to Pepper. "He parents are moving so she'll need somewhere to live before heading back to Princeton. I thought maybe downstairs or one of the SI guest suites."

Pepper glanced over at Tony briefly before smiling at Peter. "I think its a great idea. If MJ is ok with it we can redesign the floor below us."

Peter looked between Pepper and Tony. Something was definitely up but before he could say something Morgan jumped up into his lap.

"Mtn!"

Peter swung her into the air and carried her over to the living room. "Ok but only while dad makes breakfast. Then you have to eat." He stretched out on the floor and waited for the metropolis to be built.

xxxxxxxxxx

* * *

Peter waited for MJ to get into the elevator before stepping in behind her. FRIDAY already knew where they were going so she closed the door behind Peter and started the ascent to the top of the tower. MJ crossed her arms and looked at Peter. "And you have no idea what we're about to get surprised with?"

Peter glanced over at the display showing floors. "Not a clue." He still wasn't comfortable with MJ going anywhere by herself so he had driven over to pick her up. The elevator slowed as it approached their floor. Softly coming to a stop the doors slid open.

Pepper and Tony were in the kitchen finishing dinner. Pepper carried plates to the table. "Good timing!"

MJ and Peter made their way to the kitchen and helped carry everything else to the table. Sitting down they looked across the table at Pepper and Tony who had sat down opposite of them. Peter leaned back in his chair and crossed is arms. "How far into dinner are we going to have to get before you tell us what's going on."

Pepper laughed as she placed a napkin in her lap. "It's nothing horrible." She glanced over at Tony who just shook his head and took a bite of lasagna. "There's an SI event on Saturday."

Peter looked at both of them before leaning forward and taking a bite himself. "And you want me to stay in and watch Morgan?" He still couldn't figure out what was going on.

"No. We want you to go." Pepper still hadn't taken a bite of her food, but instead looked across the table at Peter and MJ. "Both of you."

Peter froze with his fork midway to his mouth and looked across the table at them. He had never had to go to anything SI related. Before, it had been because they had managed to keep the fact that Tony was his father a secret. Then, once it came out it there was a massive attempt to keep both him and Morgan out of the spotlight. He looked over at his dad with a look of panic on his face.

"It's not the end of the world. We thought this event in particular would be a good way to ease you into it. It's a kickoff event for a partnership between SI and Wakanda to provide the technology needed to equip some of the areas in Africa with clean water and schools." Tony took another bite of his lasagna. He knew the idea of attending an 'event' would completely freak Peter out. It had been a stroke of genius when Pepper suggested this particular event as an entry point into SI.

MJ leaned forward. "Why now?" The question was 100% directed at Pepper. She knew Tony could care less about most of the SI stuff and had always done his own thing. So the fact that he was on board with asking Peter to go meant there was a larger plan.

"It's no secret that Peter is Tony's succession plan. We've put off having him involved because we wanted him to get through college and get a little older before exposing him to all of this. The board of directors have a different opinion. They wanted him at the board meeting last year. We said no. This is our way of controlling exposure." Pepper saw the look of sheer terror on Peter's face and wondered if it had been a mistake to shield him as long as they had.

Peter felt MJ reach over and squeeze his hand which had dropped to his lap. He looked over at Pepper. "I'm assuming I can't just say no."

Tony shook his head. "You can say no. If you're not ready we can manage the board. It's not like either one of us is retiring anytime soon."

Pepper took a bite of her salad. "We wanted MJ here because this affects her too. The more you're involved in SI, the larger the spotlight is...on both of you."

Peter picked up his fork again and took a bite, using the fact that he was chewing as time to think. "If we say yes, what does that mean?"

"For Saturday it means both of you need clothes and we need to talk about logistics. For the long term it means you will both have some additional annoyances in your life." Pepper looked over at MJ. "We'll have to play security by ear. The fact that you already have a panic button helps but we'll have to actually have someone in Princeton that can respond. Assuming the current threat is resolved before you head back and Nakia isn't still your roommate."

Tony leaned back and looked at MJ and Peter. "You can say no but if you're going to say yes we need to know by tomorrow so we can start planning."

Peter frowned and looked over at MJ who was looking at his dad and Pepper. She leaned forward. "Can we see the plan that we would be supporting?"

Pepper smiled and stood up to retrieve a tablet. Handing it to MJ she sat back down. "I thought you'd want to see it. Everything is on there." Pepper took another bite of her salad and took a sip of water. "After dinner why don't you both head downstairs. You can look through the information without us leaning over your shoulder. Plus, Tony drew up plans to renovate the floor. Thought you could also see if you wanted any changes."

xxxxxxxxxx

* * *

Peter and MJ exited the elevator on the floor below. Not much had changed but there were plans spread out on the table. MJ sat down on the sofa and started reading through the information Pepper and given her.

Peter stopped at the table and looked at the construction plans spread out. He glanced around the room, then looked back at the plans, matching up new walls with old walls.

MJ looked up when he turned around and looked at a wall then back the plans, confusion on his face at first but then a smile. "What?"

"He's mirroring the upstairs floor but he moved the master suite." Peter looked over at MJ. "He moved it to under where my room is upstairs." He could tell she didn't understand the significance of it. "Tony and Pepper's room upstairs faces a major road but has a great view of the city. My room faces the alley but you can see the river and there's a building I can web to on the other side of the alley." He smiled again. "He's not just renovating this for you. He's planning on us living here in the future. Together."

MJ smiled. "It makes sense. Security is already in place. SI takes up the bottom five floors. It would be convenient." MJ pulled Peter down next to her. "What are you thinking?"

Peter shrugged. "I'm shell shocked. I knew I'd have to do some SI stuff eventually I just always figured it was later...perpetually later."

MJ tucked a leg up and shifted to look at Peter. "Do you want SI?"

"Yes...maybe." He turned to look at her. "I mean I'm terrified I'll screw it up but I like being able to create things. Things that actually help people. What dad's been able to do with the arc reactor technology is life changing for some areas of the world. After Rhodey got hurt and then even more so after May got hurt, the biotech division has made so many huge leaps in the field. Everything from prosthetics to nerve regrowth technology. Those are all really good things." He looked down at the tablet. "Plus it lets them contribute to thing's like this." He reached over and grabbed her hand. "What do you think?"

MJ took a deep breath. "I need to finish reading but everything you said is right. SI gives us the ability to change people's lives for the better. I think that's a good thing." She glanced down at the tablet. "So far, what they're proposing looks amazing. Some of the areas they're targeting are some of the areas I spent time in last summer as well as some areas you...well Spider-Man you have spent some time in. If they can make it work it would go a long way towards eliminating the warlords who hold those areas hostage."

Peter smiled at MJ. "We're leaning towards going, aren't we."

"I think we are." MJ sighed. "Maybe Pepper will be less over the top than Natasha was for Homecoming."

Peter laughed. "Maybe this time someone won't try to kill me."


	111. Chapter 111 - MOMA

Peter pulled up to the curb and put the car in park. He was already dreading opening the car door but it wasn't like he could drive off now. He could, it just wouldn't be taken very well. He glanced over at MJ who had a mask of calmness. "Are you ready?"

"No, but the sooner we get in, the fewer cameras we have in our face." MJ looked over and smiled at Peter. There had been a ridiculous amount of discussion over how they would get to the event. It was finally decided that if they drove themselves it would appear that they were interested in attending and not that they were being forced to attend by Tony and Pepper. Tony and Pepper would show up later, which was not outside the norm for Tony.

Peter took a deep breath and opened the car door, handing the keys to the valet. Walking around to MJ's side he opened the door and helped her out. Hand in hand they walked the short distance to the front doors and walked in. MJ was stunning so he hoped they were looking at her and not him. He'd be more than happy to jump in front of a bullet, train, car...whatever as long as she took the spotlight with the cameras. Of course, he wasn't sure if she was aware of this particular arrangement.

He and MJ walked into the room and he immediately scanned it. He had looked at the schematics of the building as part of the security arrangements so he knew where all of the egress points were. He also knew who was security. He spotted T'Challa and Nakia on the other side of the room so they made a beeline towards them.

Nakia hugged MJ. "You look amazing."

MJ shrugged, "Pepper has good taste. As always the two of you make a magnificent couple." She looked over at T'Challa, "Your majesty."

"It's barely tolerable when I'm called that by strangers, for my friends to do it is unforgivable." T'Challa smirked. He reached over and shook Peter's hand. "I am glad you and MJ decided to come. Your father and I have been working on this initiative for quite some time. It is a joyous occasion to finally celebrate its commencement."

Peter nodded. "I read through a lot of the implementation timelines. I think we can speed it up some." He looked over at MJ who squeezed his hand. "And MJ and I want to come over for some of the initial start up."

T'Challa smiled and looked at Nakia. "We may finally get Peter and MJ to Wakanda together. I should have known all it took was a science project."

MJ laughed. "Yeah...all it ever takes is a science project with him." She looked around the open lobby of MOMA. "Did you coordinate the exhibit with this event? It's a great touch." Her eyes roamed over the various pieces of African art that decorated the lobby and atrium.

"I cannot take credit for it. Pepper arranged everything. She has a knack for putting together events. We've been to several other functions and they are all spectacular." Nakia looked around the room herself. There were some phenomenal pieces from all over the continent of Africa.

MJ took mental notes. She wasn't sure she could ever fill Pepper's shoes. After their shopping trip she realized that while Peter was Tony's succession plan, when she and Peter got back together, she became Pepper's succession plan. Part of her loved the idea. MJ thought she and Peter could work as well together as Tony and Pepper had. The other part of her was just as terrified as Peter. What if she messed it up.

She looked back at the group when several people walked over and started talking to T'Challa and Peter. She felt Peter tense slightly next to her and glanced over at him. The expression on his face hadn't changed but she could feel the tension through his hand. If it were nerves it would have been all over his face which meant it was Spider related. She looked at the each person in the group of five that as currently standing in front of them. She couldn't figure out what was setting Peter off. The group left a few moments later, but before MJ could ask him about it, Nakia pulled her over to meet someone. She glanced back at Peter to make sure he was ok before greeting a dignitary from one of the countries targeted with the program.

Peter watched MJ and made sure Nakia was staying with her before focusing on T'Challa again. "How many of these things do you have to do in a normal month?" T'Challa was completely at ease and Peter envied him.

"This is my least favorite part of my job. Before my father died I was given a lot of latitude. Now, I attend functions. Some are better than others." T'Challa smiled at Peter, understanding that he hadn't been brought up in this environment. "You'll get used to it over time." He studied Peter. He thought he had detected a brief moment of unease coming from him before. Maybe it was just that he was uncomfortable in the setting. He looked towards the door and recognized the three individuals walking through. "I believe you know them?" He nodded towards the door.

Peter turned and looked towards the door and smiled. "T'Challa, I'll be back in a minute." Peter walked towards the door to intercept the group that had just entered. "Johnny! Why didn't you tell me you'd be here?"

Sue smiled at Peter. "It took us a couple day's to convince him to come. I probably should have just asked Tony if you were planning on attending."

Johnny has a look of relief on his face when he saw Peter. "I can't tell you glad I am that you're here. Wyatt refused to come. I was worried I was going to be stuck in uncomfortable conversation all night."

Peter laughed. "Tony and Pepper roped us into it a couple nights ago. So far I haven't died of embarrassment and no one has tried to kill me. It's a big improvement over just about any other time I've had to get dressed up for an event."

Johnny clapped him on his shoulder. "The night is still young."

Peter laughed. "Come on, I want to find MJ. I left her with Nakia."

Johnny followed him through the growing crowd. When the finally caught sight of MJ, Johnny leaned over. "Man, I don't think you realize how lucky you are."

Peter grinned. "Trust me, I'm aware."

The duo walked up to MJ and Nakia. MJ felt Peter slip his hand into hers. "Peter, this is President Bruhari of Nigeria."

Peter reached out to shake the man's hand. He wasn't sure when his life went from kid from Queens to meeting and interacting with heads of state. "It's nice to meet you President Bruhari."

Johnny leaned over and kissed MJ's cheek. "Glad to see you're ok. And, by the way, Peter does not deserve you." He smirked at MJ.

MJ laughed. "I didn't know you were going to be here tonight?"

Johnny shrugged, "Neither did I until last night. Sue made me come." He looked around and realized he had lost track of Sue and Reed. "Speaking of, I probably need to figure out where they are. I'll come find you all in a bit."

Peter and MJ watched him walk off. MJ turned her attention to Peter, now that Nakia and the Nigerian President had moved on to another group. "I felt you tense up before. What's wrong?"

Peter shook his head. "I don't know. Something triggered my Spidey sense. Just do me a favor and stay with Nakia if you aren't with me."

MJ nodded. "What time do you think your dad and Pepper will get here?"

Peter shrugged. "Knowing them maybe another hour?" He looked over at her. "I think we're doing ok so far, right?"

MJ nodded. "Definitely. It's like we talk to Kings and Presidents every day."

Peter laughed. "Yeah, I'm not sure how we got here."

MJ shook her head. "Can we grab some water?" She pulled Peter over to the bar that had been set up and grabbed two glasses. Taking a sip she turned when Nakia walked up next to her.

"I have someone else I want you to meet." She pulled MJ with her leaving Peter to people watch. He glanced around the room trying to figure out if he recognized anyone else. His eyes landed on Johnny who was walking towards him.

Johnny stopped next to Peter. "Amanda's here."

Peter glanced up at him but kept his face neutral. "Just here to see the art?"

Johnny shook his head almost imperceptibly. "Zeke. He's here."

Peter clinched his jaw and immediately found MJ. She was still talking to Nakia. At least she had protection. "Do we know where?" Peter thought he had a fairly good idea who he was, he just wanted confirmation.

"Brown hair. Your height.". He glanced over Peter's shoulder. "T'Challa's headed this way."

"Peter...is something wrong?"

Peter could tell T'Challa was already tense, as if he knew before he came over that something was wrong. Peter took a sip of his water. "We may have a problem. One of the guys involved in the recent problems is here."

T'Challa nodded and touched a button on his watch. He glanced over and watched Nakia glance down, then gently take MJ by the arm, leading her quietly to a predetermined area. Okoye fell into behind them. T'Challa looked back over to Peter. "They are safe."

Peter nodded. He filed the silent notification idea away. It would be handy to have. "Brown hair, my height. He was in the group from before."

"The group that you reacted to?" T'Challa scanned the room.

Peter frowned. He knew damn well he hadn't reacted. He couldn't wait to get to Wakanda now and figure out how T'Challa did the things he did. "Yeah."

T'Challa's eyes roamed across the room. "I do not see him. I suggest we split up." He slipped a bracelet off his wrist and pulled off two beads, handing one each to Johnny and Peter. "Squeeze the bead when you see him. It will notify me." T'Challa headed off to the side of the room and started moving through the crowd.

Peter looked at Johnny. "See if you can find Amanda again." Johnny nodded and walked past Peter. Peter scanned the crowd. Eyes landing on a mix of people his Spidey sense triggered. He headed towards the group. As he got closer a couple of the people moved away, revealing a man, probably late 20's, brown hair, about his height was staring at him. Peter's Spidey sense ramped all the way up and he squeezed the bead, trying not to crush it. He walked calmly towards the man who was simply smiling at him.


	112. Chapter 112 - Success

Before Peter could get close, another group of people walked between them. By the time the area cleared he just caught the back of the man rushing towards a side door. Picking up the pace he grabbed the door as it was closing.

Quickly looking around he saw that the door led to an open side gallery that had been closed off for the event. Between reviewing the schematics and field trips here in high school, he had a pretty good feel for the building. Seeing a figure dart through the room Peter took off after him, activating the Iron Spider as he ran.

The figure reached a door at the far end of the room and pulled it open. By the time Peter got there he could hear him running up the stairs to the second floor. He knew there was a balcony that ran around the top of this gallery and connected to several others so he stepped back into the gallery and climbed up the wall. Whoever he was chasing was fast...faster than he should be unless he was enhanced. He vaulted over the clear glass that made up the balcony's railing and landed as the figure opened the door.

Peter expected him to run the other way. Instead, the man ran towards him. He was prepared for the inevitable kick to his midsection but it still hurt. The man was definitely enhanced. Flicking a wrist, he shot a taser web. The taser landed but the charge didn't seem to have an affect. His Spidey sense triggered and he flipped up and back as the man lashed out again only this time, the kick was followed by a punch. Peter grabbed them man's fist and squeezed before twisting sideways and launching the man into the wall.

Spinning around, Peter was surprised to see the man recover fairly quickly. He narrowly avoided a back kick. Deciding he needed to bring this to an end sooner rather than later, he took advantage of the fact that the man was slightly off balance and shot a web at his foot yanking him to the ground.

The man stared at him for a moment then smiled again. The man raised his hands, Peter saw bits of blue lighting sparking off his fingers. The small sparks rapidly increased in size and surged into Peter's chest. The dampeners dispersed the entire charge and Peter fired another volley of webs, webbing the man's feet to the floor.

Using the electricity he internally generated, the man broke through the webs and sprung to his feet. Before he could get his bearings the Spider landed a kick in his chest driving him backwards again. Preparing another charge, the man raised his hands to fire again. The sparks from the man's fingers turned into full bolts of energy that hit a black figure square in the chest. The Black Panther had landed between him and the Spider, his suit absorbing the energy.

T'Challa discharged the build up from the electrical burst at the man on the floor. The man rolled out of the way and avoided the brunt of the blast, looking up as the Spider flipped over the Black Panther and landed on the other side of him effectively trapping him between the two. Looking at Black Panther and then at Spider-Man, the man smiled again before vaulting over the edge of the railing.

Peter and T'Challa watched him run across the gallery and crash through a window leading outside. T'Challa put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "We should not pursue. This attack doesn't make sense. There is more at play here."

Peter nodded. "Karen, scan video footage around the museum and see if you can trace him." Peter looked over at T'Challa and retracted the mask. "Thanks for the save. Could you tell how much energy he put out?" Peter was already running the numbers in his head. He knew vaguely how vibranium absorbed and transferred energy. The blast the T'Challa produced after absorbing the charge was significantly large.

T'Challa chuckled, "Shuri can pull the data." He retracted the Black Panther suit and waited for Peter to retract the Iron Spider fully. "We should return to the reception."

Peter nodded and grimaced slightly. He was pretty sure the first kick had cracked a rib. He looked over at the stairs and then back over the balcony. He looked up at T'Challa and noticed he was doing the same thing. In unison the both vaulted over the balcony railing and landed smoothly on the floor of the gallery.

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Tony and Pepper walked into the museum. People were used to them showing up after events had been going for a while so they were treated with the normal exuberance. Tony glanced around the room. Not seeing Peter, MJ, or T'Challa he had FRIDAY scan the room.

"Boss, Peter has deployed the Iron Spider. He is currently in the room to the far right. I am also detecting one individual with explosives in the main room."

Tony looked over as a member of the Dora Milaji walked over to Pepper. "Mrs. Stark, Ms. Jones would like you to join her for a moment."

"Go ahead honey, I'll go find Peter and join you." Tony smiled at Pepper and watched to make sure she was secure. "FRIDAY, analyze explosives. Is there a kill switch and will I trigger it if I use a repulsor blast?"

"I am not detecting a kill switch. A high level repulsor blast should disable both the explosives and the carrier. I suggest aiming for his midsection."

"Ok. Paint my target." His glasses functioned as a HUD and his target was illuminated. He walked determinedly towards him, greeting various people as he made his way across the room. "FRIDAY, is Peter ok?"

"I am detecting a vibranium enhanced charge. I believe T'Challa is with him. Peter's vitals are within normal ranges."

Tony neared his target. A low profile gauntlet had formed in his palm. "FRIDAY, let's try not to destroy anything. Pepper won't speak to me for a week if I mess up the event."

"Understood boss."

Tony grinned to himself then plastered on his public appearance facade. Reaching the target in question he smoothly placed the non-gauntlet hand on his arm, looked the man in the eye and then fired the gauntlet at his midsection. He tightened his hand around the man's arm to prevent him from collapsing then dragged him the short distance to the door leading into a side gallery. To any observer not looking too closely, it just looked like the guy had too much to drink and Tony was just escorting him out of the room.

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T'Challa and Peter paused as the door leading to the main room opened. Both of them tensed until they saw Tony dragging a body through the door. "Dad?"

Tony unceremoniously dropped the man on the floor. "Hey kid. Everything ok?"

"Sure. It wouldn't be an event without someone trying to kill me." Peter glanced at the body on the floor then over at T'Challa. "You were right about there being more going on." He glanced back at his dad. "Zeke was here."

Tony set his jaw. "Have Karen send your feeds to Nat. She's working on ID'ing him."

Peter nodded. "I want to go check on MJ." He glanced down at the body on the floor. "What are we doing with him?"

"I will have one of my people take care of it." T'Challa looked at Tony. "I believe that now that you are here we should make our remarks announcing the initiative."

Tony nodded in agreement. As the were walking back out into the main room, Tony turned to Peter. "Did you two do any damage that I need to be aware of?"

"Hole in the wall and a broken window. Overall my destruction rate is way below yours." Peter smirked at his dad as they walked back into the reception as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

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Tony and Pepper returned to the tower after what most would consider an incredibly successful event. Not only was it the kickoff to the initiative, it was also an invitation to a select group of people to contribute. Tony and Pepper were both thrilled that multiple people had come up to them to tell them how impressed they were with Peter and MJ. Even though no announcement had been made, their intention to physically be involved in the initial start up next month had spread quickly throughout the reception and had spurred on not only contributions exceeding Pepper's expectation but had also turned into multiple groups also wanting to also physically be involved. Trips were already being planned to assist in construction the infrastructure needed for the schools. SI and Wakanda were providing the bulk of the support but Pepper was encouraged and thrilled that so many were wanting to contribute not only money but also their time. Pepper leaned over and kissed Tony on the cheek as the elevator rose to the top floor. "Thank you for not blowing anything up tonight."

"I'll have you know that I gave FRIDAY very specific instructions about it not turning into a full battle. I thought we all did a good job." Tony slipped his arm around Pepper. "And Peter didn't destroy anything that isn't fixable."

Pepper laughed as the doors slid open. "Peter is no where near as destructive as you are." The lights in the main area turned on as they existed. Frowning Pepper looked at Tony. "I expected him to be here. They left before us. FRIDAY, where is Peter?"

"Peter is currently asleep downstairs."

Pepper looked at Tony, frowning. "Are we okay with that?" Since they knew the reception would go late, MJ had already planned on spending the night at the tower.

Tony shrugged. "In this case he is actually asleep. I think he cracked a rib during the fight. He'll be out all night." Slipping off his suit jacket he smirked at Pepper. "Besides, he'll be 20 in August. He's not a kid anymore."

Pepper frowned. "I know." She slipped off her heels and scooped them up. "I just always think of him as a kid." She smiled. "They did great tonight."

Tony nodded. "They did." Tony was incredibly proud of both of them. He was glad Peter had agreed to go.

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"What were you thinking! You could have exposed our plan if you had been caught."

Zeke looked at the older man. "Your plan, not mine." The events of tonight had achieved what he intended. He knew the Spider's suit could absorb his energy blasts. He also knew they were evenly matched. Taking him on one on one would not be a wise move. He also thought the Spider could probably take on a fair number of Ross's super soldiers. If Stark was in New York, the Spider would have backup. Which meant if he wanted to take him, it would require a different approach. He looked up at the older man. His tolerance for him was coming to an end.


	113. Chapter 113 - Decisions

Natasha looked at the group assembled in the compound operations room. After Karen had sent Peter's suit feeds she had been able to finally identify Zeke. She told Tony earlier so he wouldn't be blindsided with it. She also knew he hadn't had a chance to talk to Peter. Peter, Johnny, and Wyatt had picked up Bobby and Davis. They wanted to make sure that everyone involved had the information in light of what had happened at the reception. No one was sure what the next move would be or how Ross was connected to what had happened Saturday. She waited for everyone to settle into their seats before putting a still from Peter's suit feed on the screen. "After Saturday's incident we have a face to go with the name. And after a lot of digging we have his full name. This is Ezekiel Stane...Zeke. And if you think the name sounds familiar it's because he's the son of Obadiah Stane." Natasha paused and looked over at Tony. She noticed Peter had looked over and locked eyes with Tony before turning back to the screen.

Tony pulled himself away from the credenza he had been leaning against. "Obadiah Stane as in the guy that hired the Ten Rings to kill me and then tried to kill me himself. Nat had to go pretty far down in order to locate Zeke. He was well hidden."

Natasha nodded, "He was never publicly acknowledged by his father although I was able to trace the money forward after Obadiah's death. He left a sizable amount to Zeke which enabled him to become the fixer he is today. Once I had a picture I was able to trace some of what he's been mixed up in over the last ten years. He has connections to the mob, to AIM, he's even done work for Hydra. He has loyalties to none. As far as I can tell, he's never had a home base. He is 100% mobile."

Bucky leaned forwards. "We're thinking he's after Tony and Peter?"

Natasha nodded. "Best guess is use Peter to get retribution for his father's death."

Bucky looked across the table at Peter. "You and Tony need to take Pepper, MJ, and Morgan to Wakanda and stay there until this is over."

Peter shook his head. "I'm not running."

Sam leaned back in his seat next to Bucky. "It's not running. It's being smart. There's enough fire power in this room to take him on. If you and Tony are here it's just a liability."

"We'll talk about this later." Peter looked over at Natasha. "How is he connected to Ross?"

"We think Ross took care of him after his father died. Got him the money, probably explained the situation. Prior to Obadiah's death we don't think Zeke knew about him." Natasha flipped a series of pictures on the screen. "This is some of Zeke's work." There were pictures of various individuals with all sorts of prosthetics and bio enhancements. "He's more than capable of helping Ross figure out Osborn's super soldier formula. And, if Ross is making a move on mutants, Zeke can definitely provide the firepower."

Clint hopped off of the counter he had been sitting on, "Ok, where?"

Steve stood up next to Natasha. "That is the question of the day. Zeke has always been mobile and has proven to be incredibly hard to trace. We started looking at Ross's movements." He pulled a map up on the screen that showed various lines and dots. He pointed to a cluster. "We think he's in New York. We're just not sure where. So, when he comes up for air he'll be tracked. He's scheduled to speak at the UN in a couple days. We'll put a tail on him and follow until he leads us to Zeke." He glanced over at Natasha before looking back at the group. "Until then we're in a holding pattern. We'll use the time to gather our resources."

The meeting broke up. Wyatt, Johnny, Bobby, and Davis looked at Peter. "You need to go to Wakanda."

"I'm not hiding." Peter knew this wasn't going to be the only time he had this conversation today. He figured Nat would corner him at some point. Steve would give him a lecture about sometimes leadership means letting other people handle something. Bucky would be obnoxious about it. He and his dad would probably get into a fight about it. He wasn't looking forward to any of it. "Ross will lead us to Zeke and then it'll be over."

"You know it won't be that simple." Wyatt pushed his chair back. "I'm going to talk to Nat about her putting me on the team that tails Ross."

The other three boys saw Tony walking towards them. "We're going to see what Steve needs by way of resources." Bobby looked down at Peter. "Professor X will want to assist if they're needed. We'll have to start coordinating." All three boys stood up and left Peter sitting at the table.

"Come on, lets go for a walk." Tony looked down at Peter.

Peter sighed and pushed back from the table. Standing up he followed his dad out of room. They walked in silence, side by side, until they got outside. There was a path that led down by the river. "Dad. I'm not running."

Tony sighed. "Pete, staying makes no sense. You know you're a target and you know how much fire power they have. It is blatantly obvious that Zeke is coming after you."

"I held my own at the reception. I can do it again." Peter was frustrated that everyone though he wasn't capable of handling this.

"I'm not saying you can't handle him. No one is. What we're saying is that you don't have to. For once in your life let other people protect you." Tony knew the moment Natasha had told him who Zeke was that he was going to have to convince Peter to leave. And he knew it was an uphill battle.

"Dad, I'm not running."

"That decision is no longer yours alone to make." Tony stopped walking when Peter froze.

"You can't force me to go to Wakanda." Peter crossed his arms and stared at Tony. "I'm not some kid..."

Tony turned to face him. "No, your an almost a 20 year old who has his entire future in front of him. And I wasn't talking about me. The second you let MJ into the boxes meant that she has a say in what happens." Tony softened his expression a little, "That's not a bad thing. What you two have is amazing. You owe it to her to include her in this decision because it affects her too."

Peter frowned and looked over at his dad. "I already know what her decision's going to be. She's going to say go to Wakanda and let everyone else handle it. But what if someone gets hurt."

"If someone gets hurt it's on Ross and Zeke...not you. What if MJ gets hurt because you chose to stay?"

Peter shook his head. "Oh, she's going to Wakanda. As are I assume Pepper and Morgan."

Tony laughed, "Kid, you have a lot to learn about relationships. I think that attitude was what got you into trouble with MJ the first time." He reached over and out a hand on Peter's shoulder. "We're all going to Wakanda. Me included. Sam was right. You and I are just a liability."

Peter looked at his dad skeptically, "You're agreeing to sit this out?"

"If it means keeping you, Pepper, Morgan, and MJ safe...yes." Tony watched the emotions playing across Peter's face. "I want to live long enough to see you and MJ get married, I want to watch Morgan grow up. So, yes...I have no problem sitting this one out." Tony considered taking it a step further and guilting Peter into leaving because if Peter stayed he would too. But, he thought Peter was getting there by himself.

Peter looked past his dad and stared at the river. He didn't like the idea of running from a fight but his dad was making a lot of good points. "I need to think about it."

Tony nodded. "Don't stay out here too long by yourself. You know you're going to end up with a couple of them worried that you'll just take off to deal with Zeke by yourself." Tony included himself in that count. The only thing that was allowing him to let Peter out of his sight and have some time to work though the idea was the fact that they didn't know where Zeke was.

Peter forced a smile. "I'm not going to take him on by myself." He watched his dad retreat back up the path they had walked down. He hated the idea of running and hiding. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called MJ. His dad was right, she needed to be part of the decision.


	114. Chapter 114 - The Bridge

Peter walked back into the operations room to find Bobby, Wyatt, Johnny, and Davis going through various scenarios with Steve and Natasha. Steve looked over at Peter. "Hey..."

Peter held up his hand and cut him off. "I'm going to Wakanda with dad. MJ and Pepper are packing things up at the tower. I think we're trying to leave tomorrow morning."

Steve breathed a sigh of relief. "I can't tell you how glad I am that you made that decision. I know it wasn't easy and against everything in you, but Sam was right. You two are a liability."

Peter sat down in one of the chairs, "My only request is that I want to be kept in the loop. Briefings. Live feed when you go in."

Natasha nodded. "I think we can accommodate that." She walked over and at next to Peter. "I'm glad you and Tony won't be in the middle of it."

Peter frowned. "I'm not. I hate this."

Bobby slid his phone over to Peter. "Maybe this will make you feel better."

Peter picked up the phone and read the message. His eyes darted up to Bobby's. "Gwen's awake?!"

A grin spread across Bobby's face. "This morning. Her dad has been texting me updates. He asked if we wanted to come by and see her."

Peter's expression lit up. "We're heading back to the city in a little while. We can go visit."

Davis shook his head. "I've got to head back to help Professor X with a project." He looked at the others. "I'll be back before the op." Sometimes he felt like public transportation but he figured it was for a good cause. The project was related to wrapping up a mission so Jean and Scott could get back if they were needed.

Wyatt and Johnny looked at Bobby and Peter. "We're in, but we're headed in an opposite direction after. Ben is working on controlling his strength so we want to go check on him. If Abomination is still around we may need him for the op. He didn't want to risk damaging anything so he's on a farm in Jersey. We'll have just enough time to run in and say hi. Think you two can make it back to the tower ok?"

Peter didn't think twice about it. "We'll take the subway to the tower." He glanced over at Bobby. "You can just take my car back. It's not like I'll need it."

Steve looked at the boys. "Is that the best idea?"

Peter shrugged. "The reception was the only time Zeke has reared his head. I'm still not sure why he risked it but it's not like I'm being stalked like I was before. My Spidey sense hasn't gone off once."

Natasha shook her head. "Tell Tony what your plan is first. Please."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I'll tell him. It'll be fine though."

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Peter and Bobby walked out of the hospital, both with smiles on their faces. The fact that Gwen had been as hurt as badly as she was had weighed heavily on all of them. But, she was awake and the doctors were telling them that with some therapy she should make a full recovery. Peter knew Dr. Strange had consulted on her treatment which made him feel much better about her prognosis.

The subway station was across the street from the hospital. Crossing the street, they stood on the platform waiting for the train. Peter glanced around, his Spidey sense hadn't triggered once. It didn't make him less cautious, Natasha had drilled awareness into his head over the years. But, it did give him peace of mind. He stepped onto the train car after Bobby and they both grabbed a handle. It wasn't long until the artificial light thinking through the windows from the platform turned to black indicating they were in the tunnel. Peter had never loved being underground. He preferred the train lines that ran above ground. When he was in school, he had loved riding the roofs of trains which you couldn't do underground. He didn't think people truly understood how tight some of those passages were.

He had turned to ask Bobby a question when he felt a hand close around his wrist and squeeze. Pulling against it he realized just how strong the hand was. He could feel it crushing his watch and his wrist. As he turned to fight, his eyes caught sight of Basil. Basil, who has just pulled a gas mask over his face. Eyes darting, he saw people falling to the floor as the gas permeated the compartment. Bobby slipped to the floor next to him. The last thing he remembered were his knees hitting the ground.

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Miles crawled through the service hatch of the subway. He had heard one of the transit workers say that a train had stopped in one of the tunnels. They had stopped all trains on that line and had people headed in that direction but Miles could get there faster. Rounding the corner he could see the train ahead. It looked like it had just stopped. He couldn't see any damage. He started to run towards it until he saw two individuals exit one of the cars. The big guy looked like he was carrying something...someone...over their shoulder. Miles stayed in the shadows to watch for a moment. He sucked in a deep breath when he saw the face of the person being unceremoniously carried. He had never met him without the mask on but it hadn't been hard to figure out who he was. He understood why Peter wanted to keep his identity a secret so he hadn't let on that he knew. A dozen ideas ran through his head but he kept coming back to 'if they took Spider-Man out, what chance do I have'. Peter had told him repeatedly not to jump into a situation until you knew what was going on. So he watched and he followed.

It was easy to tail them in the tunnels. He was actually surprised that they stayed in them as long as they did. When they made their way back up to the street he looked around and saw that they were at the end of the yellow line, near the airport. A van was waiting for them. He waited for it to pull away before going high to follow them. He realized he didn't have to wait long before figuring out where they were headed. The van drove onto the long bridge that left Queens. The only bridge in this area. It was a bridge that only went one place. Rikers Island. After the break out they had proceeded to decommission the entire complex. They had talked about it for years. The damage that had been done during the break out had pushed it to a final closure. He watched the tail lights disappear across the channel. It was one of the few bridges he couldn't swing over because it was just a giant expanse of road supported by thick piles driven into the floor of the bay. The tail lights got dimmer as he turned towards Manhattan and swung faster than he had before.

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**A/N: Don't expect the next update until Monday or Tuesday. Going out of town and won't have access to upload. Believe it or not, the end of this story is near!**


	115. Chapter 115 - Are You Ready?

"Boss, Peter's tracker has stopped reporting its location."

Tony looked up from the suitcase he was packing and looked over at Pepper. "Last reported location?"

"On the subway coming from the hospital to the tower."

"Show me. And get Steve." Tony walked over and looked at the map of the subway showing where FRIDAY had lost Peter's signal.

"Tony, what's up?" Steve's voice echoed through the speakers.

"FRIDAY just lost track of Peter. In the subway coming from the hospital." Tony could hear Natasha in the background with Steve.

"We're headed your way. Keep us posted."

It would take Natasha and Steve about 30 minutes to get here. Maybe less if Clint was there and could fly them. Clint always managed to get more out of the engines than anyone else ever could. Tony suspected that had had bypassed all of the safety protocols. Right now he'd be glad for Clint's recklessness if it meant they could get to Peter faster. Tony looked at Pepper. "I want you, Morgan, and MJ in a secure location."

"Maybe something just malfunctioned in his watch." Pepper knew she was grasping at straws. They both knew the watch hasn't malfunctioned.

"FRIDAY, pull up the cameras in the subway. And see what what the train is reporting." Tony traced the tunnel system both ways. There were too many places along the path someone could hide. The cameras showed nothing out of the ordinary, but he hadn't really expected them to. There weren't enough cameras in the tunnels themselves to be of much use.

"The subway car Peter was in stopped moving 20 minutes ago." Tony frowned. If something had happened 20 minutes ago Peter would have triggered the panic button. He pushed it aside, he could figure out the signal issue once he found Peter. He looked over at Pepper. "Get MJ up here. I'll lock down this floor and use the door below as a command center." He hadn't torn out the ops center yet on Peter and MJ's floor. "FRIDAY, as soon as I leave and MJ is upstairs, lock down this floor."

"Boss...Mr. Morales just landed on the balcony."

Tony looked at Pepper. "Go get MJ." Tony walked out of the bedroom. "FRIDAY, open balcony door." He saw Miles pacing on the balcony. "Miles, this isn't a good time." Tony nodded his head towards the living room.

Miles looked up at Tony as he walked inside and pulled off his mask. "I saw someone take Peter. That's why I'm here." Miles chose to ignore the fact that Tony Stark has just called him by his first name. "I followed them through the tunnels. I know where they took him."

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Peter startled awake and immediately regretted the sudden movement. He had thrown both hands out to the side resulting in pain shooting up his left arm. He pushed himself into a sitting position with his other hand. Cradling his injured wrist against his chest he took in his surroundings. It seemed like he was in a jail cell. Using the wall to push himself all the way up he walked over and tested the bars. They didn't give when he squeezed. Ok...so not a normal jail cell. He tried to look down the hall but there wasn't a great angle and he couldn't see much. He could hear some muffled noises a couple floors up. Closing his eyes he listened. He thought there was somebody in the cell next to him. He could hear a heartbeat and breathing.

He thought back through what had happened on the subway. Basil had used gas to knock everyone out. He didn't think it was lethal. He actually felt ok except for the ache in his wrist. Basil wasn't the one that had squeezed his wrist. Peter couldn't remember seeing a face but he didn't think it was Zeke. Zeke was strong, but not that strong. It felt more like Steve or Bucky strength which meant probably one of Ross's super soldiers. Plus, his Spidey sense hadn't triggered which meant Basil was probably using the controller tech. He held onto one of the bars and kicked the bottom section. He still didn't feel much give. He tried another kick.

"You're not getting out."

Peter turned toward the direction of the voice. "Yeah?" He kicked the bar again.

"Son...that cell was designed for the Winter Soldier. The bars are coated in vibranium. You can't break them."

Peter gave the bar another kick as he thought through what the man said. 'Designed for the Winter Soldier'. Where the hell was he? "Who are you?" He heard the man move slightly.

The man chuckled. "Thaddeus Ross."

Peter stared at the wall separating them. "So, not getting along well with Zeke right now, huh."

The man chuckled again. "You could say that." He paused for a moment. "I underestimated how much he hates you and Tony."

Peter paused and looked at the wall. "He doesn't even know me."

"He doesn't have to. You have what he thinks he should have. He seems to think that if Obadiah hadn't been killed by Tony, he would have eventually acknowledged him and he and Obadiah would have what you and Tony have now." Ross sighed. "I underestimated his delusion. I thought I could use his genius to help me."

Peter shook his head. "To help you...help you do what?" He kicked the bar again.

"Help me rid the world of the mutant abomination. They're not human Peter." Ross stood up and walked to the wall he shared with Peter.

"You're just as delusional as he is." Peter stepped back to give himself enough clearance and leveled a side kick at one of the bars. He tested the bar with his good hand and actually felt a little give behind it.

"I've seen what those things can do. The Hulk destroyed so many lives. And now Hydra created a whole new threat with that terrigen drug. They're all unnatural and need to be held in check."

Peter laughed. "So you created super soldiers. Do you even see how ironic that is? You're creating the very thing you're trying to destroy."

It was Ross's turn to laugh. "They're a means to an end. And there's a difference between something created in a lab and something that doesn't have human DNA."

Peter shook his head. He backed up again and leveled another sidekick at the bar. Gripping it with his hand he definitely felt movement. "So what's Zeke's plan? Lure Tony here? Kill us both?"

"I'm not sure at this point. I am pretty sure he's planning to kill me, he just hasn't gotten around to it yet. All I know is that he'll wreck my plans if I can't stop him. I've pushed enough of the mutants to a breaking point where they're bound to lash out sooner or later. When they did, I would have a team in place, ready to take on the threat. Then, once the mutants were exposed, the world governments would have no choice but to look to me for help."

Peter backed up again and leveled another kick. He was making progress but it was going too slow. "What did you think the Avengers would do? Sit back and watch you wage a war?"

Ross laughed. "When Tony turned against me he lost an ally. The Avengers aren't quite the picture perfect hero's they once were. Even though they've managed to overcome the tarnish from Slokovia, they now have in their ranks not only the Winter Soldier but also that mutant witch and seem to be making an alignment with the rest of the mutants. You'll see that people don't like those that are different. The world will judge the mutants for what they are."

Ross's words disgusted Peter but he also knew there was some truth to what he was saying. "The world will probably judge them at first. We don't have the best track record. Between the concentration camps and internment camps in World War II and the entire Civil Rights movement in our county, people for the most part suck. But, like what happened after World War II and what you see now, those actions are condemned by just about everybody. You're on the wrong side of history Ross." Peter leveled another kick at the bar and felt the bar move. He backed up and got ready for another kick when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He paused and stepped closer to the edge of the cell. "Amanda?", he kept his voice low since he wasn't sure what she was doing.

She reached over and grabbed the bar Peter had been kicking. He watched flames surround her hand as the material melted. She moved onto the bar next to it and worked on creating enough of an opening that Peter could squeeze through. She nodded her head in the direction she had come from, indicating she wanted Peter to follow her.

Peter held up a hand and walked in front of Ross's cell. "You won't win."

Ross walked over to the bars. "You're stronger than anyone knows aren't you?" A grin spread across his face. "That means my soldiers should be stronger too."

Peter shook his head and reached over and broke the lock on Ross's cell. "I'm not letting him kill you like a caged animal." He started to move away but turned back. "You won't win. Guys like you never win."

Ross pushed the door open. "I'm not stopping my life's mission just because you freed me. It doesn't work like that."

"I'm not expecting you to. I'm letting you go because I'm not a killer. If I left you here to die I'd be playing a part in your death. What you do is on you. You go after the mutants and you'll have a war on your hands. I hope you're ready for it." Peter turned his back on Ross and followed Amanda down the darkened corridor. He heard Ross shout behind him before heading the opposite way.

"Are you ready for it Peter?"

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Steve walked over to the boy who looked like he was completely out of his element. He wasn't sure if he remembered Peter looking that shell shocked. Of course by the time Peter was around this many bigger than life people, he was a year or two older and had been working with Tony for a while. "Miles, you did the right thing. Getting to Tony to let him know where Peter has been taken gave us an advantage we wouldn't have had." He reached over and gripped Miles shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. "They'll all keep your identity a secret."

Miles looked around the room. He still couldn't believe he was in the same room with all of these people. He looked over at Captain America. "Do you think he'll be ok?"

Steve nodded. "Peter is tough. By your getting to us as quickly as we did we'll be able to get to him." Steve left off the rest of it. It had taken them 6 hours to get to Peter when Osborn had him. They were currently sitting at almost two hours now. The clock was ticking.

Steve looked around the room at the group that was assembling. A couple people were still making their way in. He had been strategizing an attack since they decided to make a frontal assault but it was a lot of people to coordinate. With the headcount they currently had, they would break up into four teams. As tough as it would be to coordinate, he was grateful for their number. Rikers was big. Tony had been able to narrow down the location by tracking Peter's radiation. What they had also discovered was that Ross had used the same radiation on his super soldiers. The amount being emitted was enormous. Tony estimated that Ross has 20 - 25 Super Soldiers at his disposal on top of Zeke's bio-enhanced individuals.

Tony and Rhodey were leading the air assault with Sam, Wanda, and Vision. The ground teams were the biggest concern. Steve had thought about assigning an Avenger to each team until Nat had reminded him they they already had Avengers with each team. The gas used on the subway wasn't long lasting so Bobby had been awake by the time Steve and Natasha had gotten to the subway car, He and Davis were with a group of from Professor X's school. He had met Jean and Scott previously. He had not met the third one but he was looking forward to getting to know him. He never thought he'd meet someone older than he was. Johnny and Wyatt would lead a team that included Ben, Sue, and Reed. They had known they would need Ben's help with Abomination. Sue and Reed had been a surprise. Tony had tried to talk them out of it, until Reed gave him a glimpse at his powers and assured him that they could handle themselves. Steve had the rest of the Avengers. He hoped that the sheer number would mean they could end this without casualties.

All eyes in the room darted over to a corner where an orange portal formed. Red cape billowing around him, Dr. Strange stepped through followed by Wong. Stephen looked at Tony as the portal faded behind him. "Are you ready?"


	116. Chapter 116 - Fireworks

Peter followed Amanda down a corridor and up a flight of stairs. He heard the muffled sounds above them and put a hand on Amanda's arm to stop her so he could listed. His eyes widened as she jumped at his touch.

She moved out of arms reach and stared at him a moment. "Sometimes I flame up when I don't mean to." She paused a moment before adding, "People aren't always nice when they touch me."

Peter heard the pain in her voice. "We can protect you. And, we know people who can help teach you to use your powers...just like Johnny does." He smiled when her expression changed. "I just want to hear what's going on. Where are we?"

"A prison on an island. It was abandoned after Ross orchestrated a breakout." Amanda smirked, "He was so mad when the Avengers showed up. He had planned to use the super soldiers to show himself as the hero." Amanda looked up to where Peter was looking. She couldn't hear anything. All she knew was that she wanted to get him as far away from here as possible.

Peter looked at her, processing what she said. "We're on Rikers?" If he was in a cell that had been originally designed for Bucky then that meant he was in the Vault. "How many floors down?"

"Five. We need to keep moving."

Peter shook his head. "I need to know what's going on before we walk into it. And I need to know where Zeke is."

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Tony checked down on everyone's location on his HUD. They could tell based on the radiation where the Super Soldiers were...which was currently all in the lower levels of the Vault. Since all of the radiation signatures were emanating from the lower levels he knew Peter had to be safely out of range.

The Vault had a fairly sophisticated detection system as well as an entire defense grid. Both of which Tony was intimately familiar with since he had designed most of it. Since they had taken the entire island offline most of the systems had been dismantled, but Tony knew some of the passive monitoring systems would still be available. FRIDAY was masking their approach to the island but they still had to go in fairly hot. The plan was to create enough of a distraction that the other three teams could hopefully portal in without being noticed.

"Ok everyone. Light em up!" There was something satisfying in creating a light show that could only be described as spectacular. The city of New York would probably appreciate the fact that they were completely demolishing most of the structures on the surface.

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Davis closed the portal behind him. Their group of five had entered on one of the upper levels of the Vault. Since they had zero intel on what to expect, none of the teams were portaling to a floor that showed a radiation signature. He watched as Logan made his way towards the stairwell that would lead to the lower levels. He glanced over at Bobby who just shrugged and followed.

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Zeke looked up when they heard the first explosion. Even multiple stories down it would have been hard to miss the bombardment that was occurring above. He looked over at one of the soldiers. "Take a group down to the cells and make sure our visitor is secure. He will be their target so expect them to come." He watched the soldier nod and leave the room. He glanced over at Basil. "You're sure the controller tech is working and you can control them all?"

Basil nodded. "I'm not controlling them, just removing the urge not to stop fighting regardless of what happens. That is what you want, right? For the fight to continue until you get what you want?"

Zeke nodded. "We can always make more." He focused again on the project at hand. He needed to be able to disable the Iron Man armor. He had been able to cannibalize enough of the tech over the years to be able to have a working knowledge of it. The AI system was impressive but at the end of the day it was just a computer. He picked up the devices. "Stay here. I need something out of the other lab."

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* * *

Steve held up a fist to bring their group to a halt. Wong had portaled them to a floor right above a group of radiation signatures. They had already made it down a level and Steve could hear movement ahead of them. The fact that they were in the Vault meant that they had full schematics and weren't having to walk around blindly. He sent Clint and Bucky down a hall that would loop around hopefully allowing them to trap the group they were coming up on.

Natasha slipped taser disks into both hands and followed Steve as they progressed down the hall that led to an open area. Keeping to the shadows they could see light in the distance. Tensing for a fight they proceeded forward. She heard the familiar thunk of an arrow finding its target and knew Clint and Bucky were engaging. They all moved forward engaging the group ahead that was a mix of super soldiers and bio-enhanced individuals. Flipping a disk at a super soldier, she watched the electrical charge dissipate when it hit his chest. She fired the other one at his neck. When the disk hit a normal person it usually knocked them out, or at least disoriented them enough where she could easily finish the job. When the disk hit Steve or Bucky it still disoriented them, but not quite as much as an un-enhanced individual. Although they hadn't tired it, they had enough data to figure out if a disk hit Peter it would interfere with his Spidey Sense and his stickiness as well as probably incapacitate him for a few seconds. The longer the exposed, the worse he was affected.

The soldier she had just hit reacted more like Steve or Bucky would which meant they had tweaked the serum to overcome the electricity problem Peter had. Which also meant no stickiness and no Spidey sense. Natasha finished dealing with the soldier in front of her and looked to her left just in time to see Wong use some kind of something to lift one of the soldiers and send him crashing to the floor, knocking him out. She didn't have a clue how he or Stephen did the things they did, she was just satisfied that Wong could handle himself. She heard another whoosh of an arrow and turned to see the end sticking out of the back of another soldier. Bucky and Steve were both finishing with soldiers of their own. She tapped her com. "Looks like they removed the electrical problem. Expect them to fight more like Steve and Bucky."

Steve wiped a trickle of blood from his cheek. "But with Peter strength." He nodded at the rest of the group to continue. The soldiers weren't unstoppable but hand to hand was going to be harder than it usually was. "Anyone found Peter yet?" He heard negatives reporting from all teams and looked over at Natasha.

"We'll find him." She walked past him and headed further into the Vault.

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Zeke walked into a makeshift workroom. He hadn't expected anyone to be there. Feeling the electricity pulsing in his fingers, he paused by a table. "How did you get out?"

Ross turned around. "I had a little help." His eyes darted briefly to the gun he had left in the table next to him. It and the cabinet of weapons behind him were the reason he was even in this particular lab.

Zeke's expression soured. He hadn't expected Peter to have been able to escape. He wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating him again.

"Zeke! Parker and Ross are gone!"

Zeke turned his head to see Basil running down the hall towards him radio in hand.

It was the opening Ross needed. He lurched towards the table and grabbed the gun. Turning, he emptied the clip in the direction of Zeke.

The first shot shattered the glass next to Zeke. Anger pulsed through him as he unleashed a stream of energy from his hands. The anger fed the energy but it also made it less targeted. Equipment surrounding Ross exploded, obscuring his view. Satisfied that if Ross wasn't already dead he would be soon, he backed out of the room. Stepping over Basil's body he walked down the hall with a single goal in mind. Find Parker. Find Stark. Kill them both.


	117. Chapter 117 - Look What I Found

Iron Man dropped down through one of the holes they had created on the surface and landed on the floor of of one of the upper subsurface levels, the rest of the aerial assault team landing behind him. "Sam, take Vision and Wanda. Meet up with Bobby's team. Rhodey and I will intersect Wyatt and Bobby." Knowing his instructions were being followed, he stalked off in the direction of Wyatt's transponder. There were only a few areas within the Vault that could truly hold Peter and Wyatt and Johnny happened to be closest to a couple of them. FRIDAY still couldn't distinguish the radiation signatures clearly enough to pinpoint Peter so he was having to rely on logic.

The radio chatter told them that all of the teams were still encountering resistance although their increased number meant that all of the confrontations were going in their favor. Tony had thought originally it was too much of a risk to have so many teams and so many people that hadn't worked together before. But the wisdom behind the overwhelming number had swayed both himself and Steve. So far, it was proving to be a good call. He just hoped it continued.

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Davis closed a portal behind him. To avoid having to fight them a second time, Bobby had set up an ice prison in one of the open areas. They knew how cold it had to be before Peter had a problem breaking it so they figured it should be able to hold the unconscious super soldiers. He and Jean had just deposited the last group. They had made it down to some of the lower levels but still no sign of Peter. This floor seemed to be made up of workrooms and lab space. He doubted they would find Peter here but the directive had been clear each floor. So that's what they were doing.

"Has one of the other teams already been here? This looks like a lot of damage." Scott looked around at debris littering the floor.

Bobby frowned. "We're the only ones on this level. Maybe it's left over from the breakout."

Logan shook his head. "This is fresh." He sniffed the air. "And there's people in there." He stepped over some of the debris leaving the rest of them to follow.

The group made their way further down the hall. Logan knelt down next to a body. "He's still breathing." He looked back at Davis. "Can you portal from here or do you need more clearance?"

Davis looked around, "More clearance. Some of this stuff seems like it's not exactly stable."

Logan reached down and picked up the unconscious lump, throwing him over his shoulder. He started to follow Davis back out of the debris when Bobby stopped him.

"Hang on." Tilting his head he looked at the unconscious figure. "I think that's Basil." He tapped is ear piece. "We just found Basil. Unconscious. Looks like he's wearing some kind of interface." He nodded to Davis to keep heading out.

Logan looked at the three remaining in the debris, "There's someone else in here. Why don't you wait until I get back."

"I think we can handle it." Scott looked down the hall. "We'll let you know what we find." He watched Logan and Davis walk away before heading deeper into the debris. Scott looked around him. It looked like the wall of one of the rooms had been disintegrated. He looked over at Jean who was staring down at a hand held device. It was helping them track the radiation emitting from the super soldiers as well as the transponders from the others. "Are you getting anything?"

Jean frowned and looked over at the room. "Massive amounts of radiation is being detected. It's not like a leak or something that would be harmful. More like 3 times the amount Tony was detecting before." She looked over at Scott. "It's like there should be 50 soldiers in there...but there's not."

Scott turned stepped into the room. "Ok...so let's see what's causing it."

Jean and Bobby entered behind him. Jean started moving debris around, clearing a path so they could see what was in the room. They finally had the first layer moved out of the way and could see a melted cabinet. "Wait, what is that?" Jean shifted some twisted metal out of the way. "I thought I saw a glint of red underneath."

Scott felt the urge to roll his eyes. Everything he saw was red. Leaning over he pulled what might have been a cabinet door out of the way and saw something that was distinctly shaped like a leg, it way larger than a human leg. "Maybe Abomination?" He felt Jean and Bobby tense behind him. He kept an eye on the unmoving leg as they continued to clear some of the debris.

"That's not what I remember the Abomination looking like." Bobby took a piece of metal from Scott. "I thought he was more...not red."

Scott shrugged and picked up another piece that was covering a shoulder. He stopped when he detected movement. "Jean, are you getting anything?"

Jean frowned. "A lot of confusion. Regret. Anger. Scott, step back." The anger was what bothered her the most. It was a deep seated anger that had taken root long ago.

Scott shook his head. He could tell that the other arm was trapped under some fused metal. Focusing his visor he shot a tight beam that broke up the metal, allowing him to remove it. He heard a gasp and felt Jean's hand on his shoulder, ready to pull him back if needed. The body shifted next to him, slowly pushing itself against a wall into a sitting position. "Are you ok?" Laughter was not what Scott expected to hear.

"I've been better." He focused on his hands in his lap. He had regained consciousness briefly before. He had hoped that it had been some trauma induced nightmare but the impossibly large red hands were still there, resting in an equally large red lap, tatters of his clothes remaining in places. He started laughing again.

"We can get you out of here and to safety. We can help you." Scott looked down into blue eyes that were a sharp contrast to the large face.

"Help me? You don't know who I am." He pushed himself up until his legs were under him and stood, head touching the top of the ceiling.

Scott stood up. "Doesn't matter."

He laughed again. "Tell Peter when you find him that the irony isn't lost on me." He was familiar enough with the island that he knew how to get off and where he could go until he could figure out what in the hell he was going to do. Stepping past the group in front of him, he punched a hole in the wall and left through it.

"Well, that was weird." Bobby crossed his arms and watched the figure retreat through walls. "Kinda what I imagine the Hulk to be like but not green and with more words."

Scott shook his head. It wasn't the first time someone had opted to go off on their own instead of accept what they offered. He knew it wouldn't be the last either. "Come on. Finding Peter is the objective."

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Peter cradled his wrist against his chest as he strained to hear. The problem was he could hear too much from too many different directions. He would love to have a com right now. Or his HUD. Or some nanobots. Or Dr. Cho. His wrist was aching which probably meant it needed to be set. The healing process only did so much. He had never gotten the knack of setting his own bones. He had watched Bucky put Nat's shoulder back into place once and it seemed horrible. He had no idea what needed to be moved where in his wrist so until he could get it set he'd have to deal with the ache.

"Can we please just try to get out of here?" Amanda did not understand why Peter wouldn't just leave.

"My friends are here. I need to find them so we can stop Zeke. And then stop Ross." Peter frowned and listened again. He thought he could hear a repulsor but he couldn't figure out which direction it was coming from.

"If you're just planning on stopping Ross, why did you let him out. Why not just let Zeke kill him?" Amanda frowned at Peter. She didn't understand anything that he did.

"I don't kill people." Peter started walking in the direction he thought the repulsors were coming from.

Amanda trailed after him. "You wouldn't have been killing him. Zeke would have been more than happy to do it."

"If I had left him there and Zeke killed him in his cell, I would have been responsible for his death. That's not something I want to live with. I fight the bad guys. I don't want to become them." Peter saw an opening ahead. Amanda has said that most of the stairwells were near the open areas. He thought he needed to be up a level.

Amanda slowed down and thought about what Peter was saying. She had spent her life either being hurt or hurting others. She didn't like the way either option made her feel. Zeke had cleaned her up and she thought maybe he was trying to save her but he ended up being worse than the rest. He had used the memory of her father to manipulate her, he had tried to tell her that she needed to be like her father. She barely remembered her father, but she needed to be like someone because she didn't like who she was. Maybe she could be like Peter and Johnny. It was an odd thought that sunk her deep into her head. She didn't realize how far ahead Peter had gotten until she saw him slow down at the opening of the room. Then she froze, the voice she had come to dread echoed through the empty hall.

"Look what I found."


	118. Chapter 118 - The Final Battle

The portal Dr. Strange had created closed behind them. They had known they were stepping into the middle of a battle but neither Stephen nor Reed had truly appreciated the reason why Davis and Bobby's team had called for backup. They had all seen video of the Hulk over the years and in preparing for this mission they had been briefed on Abomination. Seeing him in person was completely different.

Ben, on the other hand, was completely ready for the fight. He launched himself out of the portal and entered the fray. Even with their large number, Abomination was formidable. He was, for the first time since the accident, thankfully for his rock hard skin after he took the first hit from Abomination. His rock hard skin meant that he could hit back. Which he did. Repeatedly. He was also incredibly thankful for the large number of super powered people in the fight with him. He realized rather quickly that he would never have been able to take Abomination in a fight. He waited for the lab table to drop on Abomination before following it with yet another punch.

Jean and Davis had fallen into a comfortable rhythm. Jean would levitate objects and Davis would create a portal that would drop them on Abomination. By itself it wasn't going to bring him down but it was distracting him long enough for someone else to attack. The problem was they were rapidly running out of items to drop. They were about to have to resort to throwing Bobby's discarded ice spears at him. Logan, Scott, and Bobby had all been able to do quite a bit of damage but they were all thankful when Ben, Reed, and Dr. Strange showed up. They were wearing Abomination down but it was going to take a while.

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Zeke watched Peter evaluate his situation. He knew Peter didn't have many options. "I can't believe you walked straight into me. You must have the worst luck on the planet." Zeke chuckled, continuing to watch Peter. While Peter was looking for a way out, Zeke was evaluating his target. He knew Peter's wrist was crushed but he was pretty sure he could still move fast and efficiently. No suit meant no dampeners. All he needed was to be able to land a shot and he could neutralize Peter and then they could go find Tony. He wanted to make sure Tony watched Peter die.

"Zeke, I don't understand why you hate me. You don't know me." Peter thought he could see sparks starting to flicker off of the tips of Zeke's fingers. He skirted the edge of the large room, taking inventory of his options, which were unfortunately limited. He wasn't sure what Zeke's range was, he just knew he needed to stay as far away as possible. He glanced up, the walls and ceiling were too far away which meant climbing wasn't an option.

"It's simple Peter. You have what I should have." Zeke inched closer to Peter, but not enough to make him run. He wanted to savor this.

"That's ridiculous Zeke. Killing me isn't going to suddenly give you whatever life you think you're supposed to have. From what I've seen you're incredibly smart. Use that to help people. Imagine what you could do."

Anger flowed through Zeke. "I know what I can do. I'm better than you are. Smarter, more capable." Zeke raised his hands and watched the electricity spark across his fingers. "By the time I was 14, I was designing bio weapons, not wandering off on field trips. By the time I was the age you are now, I had figured out how to upgrade myself so I wouldn't have to rely on clumsy armor. I will eventually make Stark tech obsolete, just like you and Tony already are." The sparks were growing more cohesive with Zeke's every word. "Imagine how perfect it was when I found out you couldn't tolerate electricity." The cohesive glow extended into a full energy blast. Zeke knew Peter couldn't move out of the way in time. He couldn't wait to hear him scream.

Amanda darted in front of Peter, taking the brunt of Zeke's energy blast. Dull red flames flickering across her body morphed into a brighter reddish orange as the energy was absorbed. She tilted her head and looked at Zeke. "Good thing all it does is feed my power then."

"Amanda...I always knew you would disappoint me." Zeke fired another energy blast towards them. He knew Amanda could take it but he also knew her stamina wouldn't allow her to keep it up. He, on the other hand had no such problem.

Peter watched Amanda's flame grow hotter and hotter with each barrage from Zeke. The flames that had been orangish red before were quickly turning pale white. He wasn't sure what her limits were. He glanced around the room. Right now, she was his only option and there wasn't much he could do to help. If he moved even a little he would be exposed to Zeke and getting hit wouldn't do either of them any good. He felt a change in pressure and glanced to his right as the air around him heated up even more. A grin spread across his face as Johnny landed next to Amanda and grasped her hand allowing some of the flames to transfer.

Peter glanced down at his chest as a modified nanohousing appeared and his spider suit started forming. A hand appeared, then slowly the rest of Sue Richards appeared. She smirked and tapped her com. "Tony, we've got him."

Peter could hear the sigh of relief through his com and smiled. He looked over at Wyatt who had made it over to his side. "Is there a plan to contain Zeke?"

"We're making this up as we go because someone had to go and get grabbed." Wyatt paused and grinned. "Good to see you Peter." He looked up as a whip-like tentacle sparking with electricity lashed over them. "What the hell was that?"

Peter's eyes followed the whip as it retracted and shot out again. Two of Zeke's bio enhanced cohorts had joined him, one of whom had whips extending from both arms. "What did he do, give everybody electrical upgrades?"

Wyatt grabbed his arm, "Come on. I'm supposed to get you out of here."

Peter turned to look at Wyatt. "Yeah, that's not happening." He looked at the transponder dots on his HUD. Based on their location he knew his dad and Rhodey would be there shortly. The number of transponder dots was much larger than he thought it should be. "How many people did you bring?"

"Uh..." Wyatt counted through the teams in his head. "20. Seriously, your dad is going to be pissed if you're not on the way out."

Peter tapped his com. "Dad, how far out are you and Rhodey?"

"Less than two minutes. We ran into some opposition. Why are you still here?" Tony had already run through the biometric date Karen had transmitted. He was relieved it was just the wrist. He also knew the broken wrist wouldn't be enough to get Peter to leave.

Peter could hear the sound of repulsors in the background. "The nanobots have braced it. We need to overload Zeke." He glanced at Johnny and Amanda. She was starting to look drained, even with Johnny taking most of the hits. "When you and Rhodey get here you need to come in hot and ramp your repulsors as high as they can go."

"Peter, you don't know if that'll work. His limits may be higher than our combined charge. Sit tight until your dad and I get there." Rhodey fired at the last super soldier, clearing their path.

"I'm planning on utilizing some help. Just do it. See you in 60." Peter looked over at Wyatt. "I'm not sure Amanda can take much more. I'll go high and create a diversion. Use what you have but also use them." He glanced over at Zeke and his two new friends. All three of them were putting off massive amounts of electricity.

Wyatt nodded and slipped two taser disks into his palms. He knew what Peter was trying to do. He hoped it was enough. He waited for Peter to flip up and web to the ceiling to propel him over Johnny and Amanda. Knowing Peter was combating the trio's combined forces he ran towards them. Their attention on refocusing on him, he slid between Zeke's two comrades, throwing taser disks at both of them.

Peter watched the disks land and momentarily incapacitate their targets. Taking advantage of it, Peter webbed the two whips and jerked them towards Zeke. Electricity flowing through the mechanical whip-like tentacles, they landed on Zeke, transferring their charge to him.

Recovering from the slide, Wyatt attacked the second guy from behind. His target's enhancements were a little more contained to one hand. Overpowering him he redirected the energy blasts towards Zeke.

Peter webbed the sparking appendages to Zeke, the energy flowing directly into him. Peter felt an energy blast from Zeke hit his shoulder. He was starting to wonder if Zeke even had an upper limit.

"Peter, your suit dampeners are not functioning at 100%. The last blast caused significant damage."

Zeke's blasts were getting stronger. "Karen, highest taser setting we have." He flipped out of the way, narrowly avoiding another blast. Zeke had quickly adjusted and had volleyed another blast forcing Peter to slide out of the way. He looked up from his position on his back on the floor and fired a taser web. The web landed on the back of Zeke's neck. Peter watched as Zeke's body froze momentarily, then started to turn towards Peter.

Peter readied another volley of taser webs. The temperature in the room was starting to feel uncomfortably hot. He glanced over at Johnny and Amanda. Amanda had collapsed and Sue had pulled her behind Johnny, who was still firing at Zeke. Peter looked back up at Zeke. The heat was definitely coming from him. Both hand were glowing a brilliant white. Letting loose the volley of taser webs, directed at Zeke's hands, Peter braced himself to get hit with another blast from Zeke.

A repulsor fired from behind. War Machine flew by Peter and landed in front of Wyatt and focused his repulsor on Zeke. Peter felt the floor vibrate as Iron Man landed hard in front of him taking the full blast from Zeke. Both repulsors fired at Zeke. Peter scrambled back and pushed himself up. He hadn't thought through what would happen if they managed to overload Zeke. He positioned himself between Iron Man and War Machine, ready for add tasers if needed when he saw Zeke fall to the ground.

Silence permeated the room as both sets of repulsors stopped firing. "FRIDAY..."

"All three targets have been neutralized and will require medical assistance."

Tony retracted his mask and helmet and looked at Peter. "You ok?"

Peter retracted his mask and looked at his dad, eyes freezing on the damage to the chest of the Iron Man suit. "Dad?!"

Tony looked down. The damage looked worse than it was. "The suit absorbed the energy. I'm fine." He reached over and cupped Peter's head, pulling him into a hug. "You ok?"

Peter tightened his good arm around the Iron Man suit and relaxed into the hug. "I'm good." Peter released his arm and stepped back to look at Zeke. "How are we containing him. There was no telling how much damage the overload caused but they didn't need to risk not containing him.

"SHIELD has a facility nearby already prepped." Tony stepped over one of the whip-like tentacles that had detached from Zeke when he overloaded.

Peter looked over at Johnny who had picked up Amanda. Wyatt tapped his com. "Davis, can you portal to us and then portal is to the compound?"

It didn't take long for a reply. "It's going to be a few minutes." Everyone could head the sounds of a fight. Steve's voice sounded through the coms. "Davis, we're on our way to you. Johnny, Wong is coming your way."

Peter activated his mask again. Bobby was just a couple floors up. He could be there in a less than a minute. He looked down when he felt an armor enclosed hand tap his chest and the Iron Spider suit retracted leaving only a metal brace around his lower arm and hand where the bones were broken. He looked over at his dad, "What are you doing?"

"Stopping you from being an idiot. You're going to the compound with Johnny." Tony glanced over where the portal was forming. Wong stepped through. He looked back down at Peter. "No arguments. I am too. I've got too many systems down. I think they can handle Abomination."

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Tony eased into the chair next to Peter's hospital bed. He wasn't sure if there was any part of his body that didn't hurt. Part of him would be happy to never put on the Iron Man suit again. Another part of him knew that he'd put it on any time Peter was in danger and knew if he was doing that he'd have to keep training which meant he'd have to keep putting on the suit.

It had come as a complete shock to Peter when Dr. Cho had informed him that she was going to have to surgically rebreak and then set his arm. Tony had already suspected that was going to be the case when he had retracted the Iron Spider and it had stayed formed around Peter's arm. The nanobots in both his armor and Peter's had a built in mandate to provide whatever emergency medical treatment was necessary. The spider was good, but not good enough to realign bones. It had happened a couple times before and Peter hated the process each time.

He had called Pepper and MJ when they had gotten to the compound. MJ would probably be here in the next 30 minutes but for right now he was just enjoying sitting with Peter. He turned his head when Dr. Cho walked in.

"He should be coming out of sedation soon." She handed Tony a pill and a glass of water and waited for him to take it. "Your suit did a good job absorbing the energy blast but your heart can only take so much."

Tony swallowed the pill. He was very much aware that taking the full hit of energy from Zeke hadn't been a good move for his heart but the alternative wasn't good for his heart either. He'd upgrade his suit's dampeners to the level of Peter's. He had also been playing around with reallocating the energy to the repulsors in his suit. He might be able to do something similar to Peter's, although Peter has never wanted repulsors. He'd figure something out. "How's Amanda?"

"Physically she'll be fine. Professor Xavier is talking to her now. She's had a hard life and there's a lot of damage to repair." Helen glanced down at Peter. "Call me if he needs anything. The rest of them have started portaling back in. No other serious injuries." She knew Tony already knew this because of FRIDAY. Retreating, she left Tony where she had left him multiple times before...sitting next to Peter's bed.


	119. Chapter 119 - Africa

"Peter!" MJ watched Peter scale the side of the building they were constructing. She had seen him crawl across a wall multiple times in his various spider suits but it was disconcerting when he had jeans and T-shirt on.

"MJ, even if they saw me, who are they going to tell?" Peter swung a leg over the top of the wall and sat down. Using his web-shooters, he latched onto a bag of tools and pulled them up. "It's the benefit of being miles away from civilization." He took a hammer out of the bag and started working on the bracing for the roof. "Plus, they don't care that I'm Spider-Man."

MJ shook her head. "At this point they think that you're some kind of construction genius. They don't quite understand how you're getting all of this done when it's just the two of us."

Peter looked down at her and grinned. "I am a genius."

MJ threw a rag at him. "That's not what I mean. You put the header beam into place by yourself. When they build a building it takes all the men in the village."

"That's why we're in this particular village. Most of the men have gone off with the warlords in this region." Peter looked out over the vista in front of them. It was vastly different from what he was used to. When they'd go into different countries on missions he never really had a chance to take everything in. Early on, curiosity always got the better of him and he couldn't help but to be distracted by new sights, now, from the point the wheels of the Quinjet touched down his focus was 100% on the mission at hand. Without someone immediately trying to kill him, he had time to actually take in his surroundings. He was still on a mission, it was just wholly different than what he was used to and he found that he was really enjoying himself. He glanced back down at MJ and smiled. The fact that they were here together made it even better.

MJ squinted up at him. "When does everyone else get here?"

Peter sighed and went back to working on the bracing. "Tomorrow." He looked at the building. "Think I can get the roof on before they get here?"

MJ shook her head and went back to putting the waterproofing on what would be the door. "Probably. Are you surprised T'Challa let us stay out here by ourselves?"

Peter scooted down the top of the wall to continue installing the bracings. He only had a few more to put on before he could start on the actual roof. "They can get a clear signal from both of our watches and I think the War Dogs are closer than either of us think. I also think T'Challa understands." Decompression was exactly what Peter needed. After everything with Zeke finally ended, he realized exactly how stressed he had been. Within a week of getting a clean bill of health from Dr. Cho he and MJ had headed to Wakanda. Spending time in the capital city had been great but once Peter had gone out to one of the villages they had targeted for the joint initiative he hadn't wanted to leave. He was just thankful MJ was ok with the idea. It wasn't something he could do long term but it was nice for the couple days they had been out here. Plus, it meant he got a lot accomplished. Building a school wasn't that different than anything else he had ever built. It just didn't have a lot of tech in it. In fact there was no tech at all. And no power. Turns out super strength comes in handy when you're manually cutting wood.

MJ looked down at her watch. "Hey, it's almost noon. My guess is they'll bring us lunch soon." The last three days had followed an identical pattern. Some of the villagers would bring them food around noon and the kids would spend the rest of the day helping. It was kind of like Morgan helping Tony and Peter in the lab, which meant nothing got done. The first day it happened, Peter was frustrated that he couldn't actually do any work. That is until MJ reminded him that they were building the school for the kids...the same kids that wanted to 'help'. So, the next day they planned ahead and strategically left things for the kids to help with. Today's activity was "painting" the classrooms. Really, MJ was going to help them do hand prints on the walls. The fact that the roof wasn't on yet didn't mean a whole lot since the environment was so arid. MJ watched Peter lower the tool bag to the ground with a web and flip off the ledge landing in front of her.

His timing was perfect because as soon as he hit the ground he could hear them coming. He estimated they'd be walking around the bend in the road in about two minutes. Just because they were miles from civilization didn't mean they were completely without resources. Peter walked into the tent that T'Challa had given them. It wasn't your standard tent. It was a Wakandan tent that very much reminded Peter of either the Tardis or Mary Poppins' bag...the inside was way different than its outside appearance. He finished washing up and walked outside in time to see the kids running around the bend in the road.

The afternoon project actually went great. MJ had them involved enough that he could finish up the bracings and get the support beams in place. MJ had gotten fairly proficient at distracting the kids while he did something he shouldn't be able to do. He was getting careless though, there were more than a couple times when he knew some of the younger kids had seen him lift something he shouldn't be able to. But, like he had told MJ, who were they going to tell.

The sun started dropping in the sky, which meant that the kids started making their way back to their village. It wasn't too far away but it was far enough that Peter and MJ could enjoy the silence. It was part of what was helping Peter decompress. Ever since the accident in high school he had been very much aware of the fact that sometimes even a little stimuli was too much. They had gotten creative over the years. He had gone out to Clint's farm one other time after a bad mission. The lake house helped. It was almost as quiet as it was here. There were just different animal noises which he found fascinating. Of course it helped that he was fairly confident that between the tent T'Challa had given them to use and his own abilities he could keep them both safe from what ever was roaming around at night.

MJ walked out of the tent and walked over to where Peter was standing. "So what's going on in your head?"

Peter glanced over at her and shrugged. "It's just nice to be able to decompress."

"That's not what I'm talking about. You've never been overly great at keeping secrets but it's almost like you want the kids to know what you can do." MJ studied the expressions flickering across Peter's face. "Are you testing the waters?"

Peter kept his eyes on the sunset. "Would it be so bad if I am?" He turned to look fully at her, trying to judge her reaction.

MJ smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him over to the rock they had spent the last couple nights leaning against as the watched the stars. "It's a constant shock every morning when I turn the news on and another day has gone by where you haven't been outed. But it's a lot to think through." Sinking down, she pulled him down next to her. "Have you talked to your dad about it?"

Peter shook his head. "No. It really hasn't been this strong of an idea until this week. Maybe once we're back in New York I'll go back to wanting to keep it secret. Maybe this is just part of decompressing." He settled back against the rock. "Plus there's Miles to think about. He's got another couple years of high school. If it's out that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, how does that affect him."

MJ crossed her legs and turned to look at Peter instead of the twilight sky. "It's a toss up. It either completely insulates him or it puts him in more danger. I'm not sure there's an in between."

Peter looked over at MJ. He was extraordinarily grateful she was in the boxes. "So what do you think. You do get a vote. I'm fact, I'm pretty sure your vote will probably outweigh mine."

MJ laughed. "I'm ok either way. But I don't want to be caught off guard so you can't do what Tony did and announce it without telling anyone what you're doing."

Peter laughed, "You'll have a heads up." He glanced up as stars started appearing in the darkening sky. He let out a sigh as more and more stars appeared in the night sky. This was some thing else he didn't have in New York, or Boston for that matter. You could see a decent amount of stars at the Lake House but nothing like this.

MJ smirked at the look on Peter's face. At the end of the day he was a complete science geek and she loved it. Most people enjoyed looking at stars, Peter was in awe of it. "Would you want to go up there?"

Peter tore his eyes away from the sky. "In space? In a heartbeat." He shrugged, "Other timeline me did." They had tried to figure out where exactly Titan was but Dr. Strange couldn't give them enough details.

"Other timeline you died up there." MJ frowned. That was one of the boxes she hadn't enjoyed being in, but she was still glad she had been allowed into it.

Peter smirked, "I'm pretty sure I would have died on Earth too. I don't think it was just because I was on another planet."

MJ scooted closer to a Peter and shifted until she was leaning against him. She pulled his arm around her, intertwining her fingers with his. "Let's try not to die in either place."

"Agreed." Peter sighed again. This was probably his favorite part of the last couple nights.

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* * *

Peter woke up with his Spidey sense fully ramped up. His hand immediately reached next to him. Once reassured that MJ was fine and asleep next to him, he swung his legs off the bed, slipped his jeans back on, and pulled on his boots. Tying the laces he focused on the sounds he could hear. He felt MJ stir next to him. Reaching back he put his hand on her and felt her immediately tense. He glanced back. "Stay in the tent." He slid his hand down to her wrist. "Use the panic button if you need to." Rising, he walked towards the door and slid the flap to the side to peer out.


	120. Chapter 120 -You Seemed To Be Having Fun

Peter slipped out of the tent and passed his hand over a small camouflaged pad by the tent door. If you didn't know it was there you would have missed it. The device acted as a lock of sorts and effectively made it so no animal or human could enter the tent. Wakandan technology was awesome. Peter stayed in the shadows and listened to the group that was approaching. If he had to guess it was five or six men. The number he could handle. He was more worried about their intent.

One of the things discussed at length was the fact that the regional warlords weren't going to like what SI and Wakanda were doing. The warlords power came from the fact that most of the villages were out of options. Bad weather meant that whatever sources of trade died up. It didn't matter if a village relied on agriculture or livestock, all it took was one bad season. The warlords seized the opportunity to increase their ranks by grabbing what they could, be it able bodied men or the women and children. Human trafficking of the women and children, while hard to battle, was easy to confront. Most governments allowed intervention by just about anyone...the UN, various other agencies, Wakanda, and even the Avengers. Peter knew Nat had run multiple ops targeting human traffic rings, some on the books, others not so much. What Wakanda and SI were doing was a little more strategic.

Trying to combat failing economies in small corners of Africa that were barely a blip on anyone's radar was hard. You couldn't just write a check and solve the problem. Many of the villages in question were steeped in tradition. Wakanda had mastered the art of not sacrificing tradition with the advent of technology. The initiative wasn't trying to replicate Wakanda, it was trying to provide schools, clean water, and even some options for trade. All without sacrificing tradition. Creating a synthesis of the old ways with the promise of a future. And the warlords were mad.

Peter walked over to the edge of the partially constructed school building. From there he had a completely clear view of the road. He leaned against it and crossed his arms, web shooters formed on both wrists, and waited. The men rounded the corner and stopped when they saw Peter. The moon was still high enough to cast a pale light. "It's a little late for stroll, isn't it?" The fact that there were six automatic weapons aimed in his direction wasn't lost on him.

Peter saw one of the men's finger twitch against the trigger of his gun. Removing the weapons from the equation was his top priority. Flinging webs he snagged two of the guns and pulled them, sending them flying over his head. Flipping up he knew the next volley of webs had grabbed two more. It was the final two that was the problem. Flinging web grenades he wrapped up the closest two. Unfortunately they happened to be two without weapons. He slid to the side as he felt bullets fly over his shoulder. Rolling to his back he shot a taser web at one of the guys still armed, knocking him to the ground. Flipping backwards he landed in a crouch and checked down on his targets. Two were secured by web grenades, one was unconscious from the taser web. That left the one with the gun and the two he had disarmed.

Firing a web grenade in one direction and a taser web in another he flipped up and over the man with the gun and fired another series of web grenades directly down. He landed behind him and fired another grenade over his head. He instinctively knew he had hit his target. He ducked into a roll and flung another series of web grenades, letting momentum carry him forwards. Landing on his back he looked around at the six men, satisfied that they were all contained. Then his eyes landed on a vibranium spear hitting the ground in front of him. Following the spear to the face of the person holding it, Peter looked up at Okoye. "You've been there the whole time?" He received a nod in response. "You could have helped."

Okoye reached her hand down to pull Peter up. "You had it under control. Plus, you seemed to be having fun."

Peter looked around and saw that the six men were being gathered together by other Wakandans. Okoye seemed to be the only Dora Milaje present. Peter looked back at her. "Why are you here?"

Okoye shrugged, "T'Challa wanted someone who would be able to discern if you actually needed help. It was important to him that you and MJ remain as undisturbed as possible. Nakia is the only other person he would trust with this and she was unavailable."

Peter frowned and walked over to the tent. Waiving his palm across the pad he pushed the flap aside to find MJ standing behind it with her arms crossed. He knew she hated being locked in but he also knew once she calmed down she'd be fine. He knew she knew why he had done it.

She glanced over at him as they walked towards the group of men that were now sitting in a row in front of the school. "Are you ok?"

Peter smiled and nodded. Stopping next to Okoye, he looked down at the six men. "Why are you here?" He knew why, he wanted to hear them say it. His question was met with silence.

MJ walked over to one of the men and crouched in front of him, studying his face. "You are Ba'Tunde's father?"

The man's eyes widened and he looked down, refusing to meet MJ's eyes. Peter glanced between the man and MJ trying to figure out how she had figured that out. Ba'Tunde was one of the boys from the village...a boy who's father had disappeared. It was hard to determine if he had left of his own free will or if he had been forced to leave. MJ stood and looked over at Peter. "Same facial features and identical eyes."

Peter smirked to himself. The things MJ picked up on never ceased to amaze him. He looked down at the man, then knelt in front of him. "You do know we're here to assist. That's it." The man refused to look up. Peter looked down the line at the rest of the men. "Anyone else from this particular village?" When another man looked down at the ground Peter stood up and looked over at Okoye. "What are you doing with them?"

"We will take them with us and see if we can gain any intelligence. After will depend very much on how they behave." Okoye nodded to the warriors that had accompanied her to take the men to their shuttle. "Your father and your friends will be here this afternoon. Would you like to come back to the city to meet them?"

Peter looked over at MJ. He was perfectly fine staying out here, but if she was ready to go back he'd go without hesitation. MJ shook her head. "We'll stay out here. Johnny, Bobby, Davis, Wyatt, and Jen were planning on staying out here with us so we can just stick to the original plan."

Okoye nodded. "If you require assistance, we will be near."

Peter watched Okoye retreat into a shuttle that had been previously cloaked. He turned to look at MJ. "Are you ok?"

"I don't like being locked in but I get it. If you have to worry about my safety you can't focus on what you need to do." MJ relaxed into the hug Peter had pulled her into. "The sun will be up soon. Let's start on the roof."

Peter smiled and released her. "You know, I could just make you armor." He had seriously thought about. Just something that she could trigger that would keep her safe.

MJ frowned. "I don't want armor." She had had multiple conversations with Pepper. Tony had made Pepper armor which she had no intention of ever wearing. She had told MJ how uncomfortable the Iron Man armor had been. MJ had no idea how Tony could stand to wear the earlier versions of the suit. She had also heard Peter complain about how inflexible the earlier Iron Spider versions were. The idea of wearing armor sounded horrible to her.

Peter just chuckled and retreated to the pile of roofing material.


	121. Chapter 121 - Arrival

Peter squinted as he looked up at the sky. He could hear the Quinjet's engines. He looked back down at the roof he was sitting on. He was pretty much done. Which meant the rest of the team could start working on the water filtration system. He stood up and flipped off the roof. MJ had asked him once why he insisted on flipping instead of just jumping off. The reality was that he just really liked flipping. It was kind of like free falling. He landed on the ground as the Quinjet appeared in the sky. It would be good to see everyone. After everything with Zeke they had spent a couple days at the compound but then Bobby and Davis had returned to Xavier Institute and Johnny and Wyatt had returned with Reed, Sue, and Ben. That was two weeks ago. Peter missed his team. But being able to decompress had been good for him and in order to do that, he needed the space. He knew they all understood.

The Quinjet landed in the same area the Wakandan shuttle had landed last night. Ramp lowered Johnny and Bobby were the first two down the ramp, followed in short order by Davis, Wyatt, Jen, Tony, Pepper, and Morgan. Tony looked at the completed school building and recognized it for what it was...Peter was too much like him. He watched the boys hug each other in turn then watched Morgan run full steam into her brother's arms. Pepper stopped next to Tony and looked at him. "Do we need to be concerned about the fact that he built a complete school in four days?"

Tony shrugged. "I'll let you know later on today." He hoped Peter was handling things. He had agreed for him and MJ to head over to Wakanda early because Tony had been completely aware of how stressed Peter had been. He also knew T'Challa would keep an eye on him. He and Pepper walked towards the group.

Wyatt stood back and looked at the building. "I can't believe you finished the school."

Peter shrugged. "It's not like it's that big. It's really just one big room."

Johnny leaned over as everyone else walked into the school building to check it out. "You good?"

Peter nodded. "I'm good. Decompressed. I'm glad you all are here though. It's good to see you."

"Good. Because you built an entire building. In four days." Johnny had often been accused of being self absorbed. After the accident that gave him his powers he had become a little more 'aware' of others. Sue had called it a rare opportunity for introspection.

Johnny had realized early on in their team formation that he was essentially Peter's second in command. Wyatt had never wanted leadership. It was the reason he had been at boarding school. He might grow into it one day but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Bobby Davis might also get there one day but right now they were more than willing to follow Peter and to a certain level Johnny. They all instinctively looked to Peter for leadership. Initially it was because he had been doing it longer than they had plus he had the benefit of the Avengers. Johnny wasn't even sure if Peter was aware that he also had a natural ability to lead. Not just because he had experience but because there was something about Peter that made you want to follow him. He had heard Peter say more than once that he was simply leading by default so Johnny was pretty sure Peter had no idea. But, in the moments that needed action, Peter always acted. He was strategic in his plans which gave everyone the confidence they needed. Those times when Peter wasn't available Johnny had realized that the rest of the team was turning to him. So instead of shirking the responsibility Johnny found himself embracing it. Which meant that Johnny felt like it was his responsibility to also make sure Peter was ok.

Satisfied that Peter wasn't on the verge of some kind of breakdown he looked around the area. They had all seen the plans for the water filtration system. He knew there was a small river not too far away that the village used for water. The goal was to place an intermediary site that was tapped into the river that could be filtered. Overall, it wasn't too complicated. And it was something that with their particular skill sets, could be knocked out in a couple days.

The boys spread out into two other tents that T'Challa had provided. Tony and Pepper were planning to head back to Wakanda's capital city with Morgan. They planned on staying in Wakanda until MJ and Peter headed back at the end of the week and then they'd fly home together. Tony had come out to the village to specifically check on Peter. MJ had taken almost everybody into the village. Bobby and Davis had opted to get both of the tents set up so Tony had Peter to himself. "How are you doing kid?"

Peter shrugged. "T'Challa tell you about what happened last night?"

"Yes, but that's not what I'm talking about." After all this time Peter's first response was always the mission at hand...never himself. "How are you doing? You built a school by yourself in four days."

Peter looked at the building. It truly wasn't that big. "It helped. I feel better."

Tony studied Peter. Sometimes he enjoyed seeing glimpses of himself in his son. It was affirmation that he wasn't his father. This was not one of those times. But, there were worse ways to deal with stress. He knew because he had tried them all. Throwing yourself into a project did help. Tony knew that first hand. "Are you sure you're feeling better?"

"I'm fine Dad."

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Peter looked at the group seated in the middle of the three tents. He felt like a normal college student. He enjoyed those moments because they were few and far between but he wouldn't give up the other moments for anything. The moments of adrenaline fueled action punctuated by moments of brief panic. He truly loved those moments. It was part of who he was. He couldn't imagine himself without those moments. He looked over at Johnny who was sitting next to him. "You're telling me there's been no sign of Ross?"

"None." He looked over at Bobby. "I don't know how you lose a red, hulk-sized maniac."

"Hey...we had other priorities at the time. Plus, it's not like we knew it was Ross." Bobby looked over at Peter. They had pieced together that Ross must have been hit with gamma radiation when the lab exploded. All it took was Bobby relaying the message the red giant had given them for Peter to realize who it was.

"Are we assuming that Abomination probably hooked up with him?" Peter looked between them, smirking. He had already given everyone a hard time about letting Abomination get away. Davis was definitely giving him the look that said 'don't start'.

Johnny nodded. "Everyone has gotten the memo to keep their eyes open. I don't understand where two giant monsters can be hiding."

Peter shrugged. "Ross has deep resources. If he doesn't want to be found yet, he won't. I'm just worried about what he's planning with his new powers."

Jen looked at the group. She was trying to ease into this life. The life that was perfectly normal talking about gamma mutated villains because half the people you were sitting with were mutated themselves. It was still unnerving at times. "Hey, I though I heard Mr. Stark mention some of the people that are bringing teams over." She looked over at Peter and MJ. "Is Elon Musk really bringing a team over?"

MJ smiled. "Several teams. The guy is almost as amazing as Tony is." She had accompanied Pepper to some of the prep meetings for the initiative. Meeting Elon Musk had been a surreal experience but then she realized once again that she and Peter were no longer just kids from Queens. They were poised to take the reigns of a multi billion dollar tech company in a couple of years and she found that the idea humbled her beyond belief. "There are so many groups coming over that the initial timeframe has been cut in half. It's the trading between villages that's going to be hard to solidify. There's hope that the warlords start losing power without having to force confrontations but they're prepping for a worse case scenario."

Johnny glanced over at Peter. "Have you heard anything about the group from last night? Have they learned anything?"

"I haven't heard anything." Peter had mentioned to his dad that if T'Challa opted to act on any intelligence they received they wanted in on the op but he wasn't sure what if anything would actually come out of the intel. They'd just have to wait. Meanwhile they had a water filtration system to build.


	122. Chapter 122- Here's The Plan

Peter and Johnny stood back and looked at the finished product. They hadn't tested it yet and they had tweaked the plans a little but they both were fairly confident they had a working filtered water station. Davis and Wyatt were getting ready to turn it on. They had a test kit that would allow them to sample the water and make sure everything bad was being filtered out. Peter let out the breath he had unconsciously been holding as water flowed from the spigot. It would take an hour or so for the analysis to come back. They were using Wakandan tech that Peter had to admit was actually better than what he and Tony could have come up with on their own. Having unlimited access to vibranium helped tremendously but Shuri was in herself amazing. He knew his dad was planning to spend a decent amount of time with Shuri while he was there. Peter had to keep pushing back the insecurity that kept trying to surface when he thought about the idea of his dad spending time in a lab with someone other than him. He knew it was ridiculous but nevertheless it was still there. He forced it back again and looked over at Johnny. "I think the changes actually worked better than the original blueprints. We'll need to update the plans that go out with other teams." They had made the change due to some terrain issues but the end result had actually been more efficient than the original.

Johnny nodded. "Wyatt and I will test run it again next week when Sue, Reed, and Ben get here." They were effectively making up team two. The village they were going to was a little more remote and perfect for Ben. He could work out in the open without the fear of discovery from a world that wasn't quite ready to deal with rock-like creatures. "Have you heard anything else from T'Challa?"

Peter shook his head. "Just that they should have all the intel they need today sometime and we can go in tonight." If the water test came back good then their work here was done. They'd all head back to the capital city and then the boys would head out tonight with the Wakanda team to deal with the warlord.

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Wyatt tightened the gauntlet around his wrist as he looked down at the map displayed in front of him. He glanced over at Nakia who was standing opposite of him. "Do you think they know we're coming?"

"They move around daily, never spending more than one night in any given location. This makes them overly confident that they cannot be found so I do not think so." She glanced around the room. "But even if they are, we have more than enough support." She looked back to Wyatt. "You are confident that you will be able to find their location?"

Wyatt nodded. Tracking was something he had always been good at. It was the one "old way" that didn't bother him - mainly because there really wasn't any kind of technology that could surpass it. Scanners could only take you so far. He looked around the room. The plan was fairly simple. Their team would track and when they found the encampment, the rest would come in for support.

Nakia's people had been able to get the general vicinity out of the group of men Peter had captured a couple days ago but they had not been able to locate the encampment in real time. They were always a day or two behind. So that's where they would start. The five of them could move much faster than an entire encampment. Wyatt was confident that they could follow their trail and overtake them within 24 hours. He looked over at Peter as he joined them.

"You're on point. Spidey sense isn't really going to help." Peter looked down at the map before meeting Wyatt's eyes. It wasn't a large distance they were going to have to cover but the terrain was going to be challenging. It was an area full of caves which is why they hadn't been able to pick anything up on scanners.

Wyatt laughed. "I'll take care of tracking them, you just watch out for the things that can eat us."

Peter smirked in response. "Deal."

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Bobby and Davis looked at Wyatt skeptically as he studied seemingly nothing on the ground. They had watched him for the last couple hours lead them through winding passages that Wyatt had generously called trails. They still couldn't figure out exactly what he was following. But it never failed that when one of them was about to ask if he was sure they were on the right path they all spotted a sign that the larger camp had come through previously.

Peter and Johnny trudged among dutifully, never questioning Wyatt's lead. Johnny had seen him trail something before and Peter had complete faith in Wyatt's abilities. Johnny glanced back at Peter as he ascended a steep ridge behind him. "You said the Avengers had taken down one of these warlords before?"

Peter took a sip of water while Wyatt studied a shadow on the ground. He could see what Wyatt was looking at, he just didn't know what it meant. "The mission went off fine. They were no match for us. I just wasn't prepared what what we walked into." He knew Johnny would expect him to explain the statement. "Most of these warlords are also in the business of human trafficking." He took another sip of water. "Dad realized on the way back that he probably should have given me a heads up, but I not sure he knew what we were walking into either. I think we all thought it was just alien tech enhanced weapons." He looked over at Johnny as Davis and Bobby topped the ridge behind them. "It wasn't. We walked into a one room building that had about 50 women and young girls in it. Horrible conditions and they had not been treated well."

Davis clapped Peter on the shoulder before twisting the top off of his own canteen. "Even more of a reason to take them down." He had watched how his father, and by extension his father's men had treated people over the years and he was intimately familiar with the idea that true monsters exist and that you can't always tell by the way they look on the outside. The worst monsters by far looked very much human because that's what they were.

Wyatt stood up and looked back at the team. "We're close. Maybe a couple miles further up." He glanced up at the setting sun. He was losing the ability to see the faint shadows cast by hoof prints and footprints and he didn't want to risk using a flashlight at night. But, from the map of this area there were very few places they could get to from this point and he had a fairly good idea where they went.

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* * *

Under the cover of darkness, the five boys studied the encampment below them. Wyatt had taken them up and around so they could see their targets from above. He camp was backed up against a mountain riddled with caves that more than likely connected to other caves. Cutting off an escape route would have to be their first objective.

Wyatt glanced over at Peter who had a Wakandan scanner in his had, mapping the area below them. He was marking targets that were being transmitted back to Wakanda and to the team that was being deployed.

Closing his hand around the device and securing it back in his pocket, the Iron Spider suit formed around him. Leaving the mask off for now, he glanced around at his team. "Here's the plan..."


	123. Chapter 123 - The Truth

Johnny lowered himself and dropped silently in the shadows of the cave opening. He watched Peter scamper down the wall and land lightly next to him. If he could have flamed up he could have made it down the rocky hillside without breaking a sweat. Instead, non-powered Johnny Storm had to maneuver himself down the old fashioned way. It wasn't the first time he wished his abilities transferred over without the flames and he was very thankful that Wyatt and Peter insisted they spend as much time in the gym as they did. It made the descent somewhat easier than it would have been a year ago.

Davis, Bobby, and Wyatt were creating a distraction on the other side of camp that should pull everyone out of the cave and allow Johnny to seal the it. Heated enough, the rock would melt and seal off the passageway. But, it wouldn't do any good unless everyone was out. So, they tucked themselves into a shadowy corner and waited.

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Tony looked at the map on his HUD. Peter had done a good job of painting the primary targets. The plan was solid, Tony just hated being this far away from Peter when the fireworks started. He fought the urge to increase power to the boot jets. If he got there sooner than he was supposed to Johnny wouldn't have time to seal the cave. So, he forced himself to match the speed of the Wakandan fighter next to him. They were two minutes out from the drop zone. If everything was going according to plan Wyatt, Bobby, and Davis would be moving into position and in the next sixty seconds Bobby would blow a weapons cache. There was a funny little quirk when you blended alien tech with normal tech...it got a little unstable when the temperature got too low. It was something he and Peter had discovered by accident one afternoon in the lab. It really wasn't a liability unless you were approaching zero Kelvin. And that never really happened outside of a lab, or if you happened to be around someone who could manipulate the temperature of particles.

He glanced up at the countdown on his HUD and noticed the familiar transponder beacons start to appear. They were getting within range of the encampment which meant the weapons cache should explode right about...

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* * *

Davis closed the portal behind the three boys as the weapons cache exploded behind them. He had only moved them out of range of the explosion, not out of range of the action. He could hear the chaos breaking out behind them and saw Wyatt situating himself to defend their position. Offense wasn't the mission right now, although if anything came their way they were all more than willing to engage. He slid behind the rock next to Wyatt and Bobby and looked up as a repulsor fired towards the encampment. Tony's timing was perfect.

The initial blast they caused was to get anyone in the cave out of the cave and allow Johnny to seal up the cave entrance. Tony's targets were designed to take out the remaining weapons cache as well as drive everyone into a contained area. T'Challa was dropping in with Wakandan fighters to subdue targets on the ground. Wyatt, Bobby, and Davis were responsible for making sure no one ran. Davis kinda hoped somebody ran.

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* * *

Peter and Johnny watched the group run out of the cave. Based on the intel T'Challa had, it looked like it most of the leadership of this particular group. Peter fought the urge to start flinging webs. He and Johnny could probably contain most of them. But not all of them. And the plan was for them to seal up the egress route, not capture. They waited for the group to make it far enough away before Johnny started working on melting the sides to start sealing the entrance. Peter looked back into the cave. "Karen, anyone else in there?"

"Peter, I'm picking up several more life forms."

Peter sighed, "Human life forms, right?"

"Yes."

Peter looked over at Johnny. "Keep sealing, I'll take care of whatever's in the cave." Peter started walking deeper into the cave. "Johnny, keep an eye on your six." He hated leaving Johnny on his own but they also didn't want to leave anyone in the cave."

"Peter, I got it. Just don't spend too long and make me come look for you."

Peter waved over his shoulder and continued into the cave. Karen was projecting the approximate location on his HUD so he followed the winding paths through the cave.

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* * *

Lighting flashed as a group of five landed in the middle of the encampment. The sonic bursts originating from the spears took out the combatants in the immediate area. The remaining waves realized who had landed in the middle of them. Some ran. T'Challa was confident that Wyatt and the other boys could contain them. Other fought. The Wakandans were more than a match for them. T'Challa slashed through the men who chose to face him with little regard for the outcome.

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* * *

Tony landed next to the cave opening. T'Challa had the fight under control and Bobby, Davis, and Wyatt had contained the ones that had tried to run. He stepped over some bodies on the ground that had obviously been stopped as they tried to escape through the caves. "Where's Peter?"

Johnny glanced over his shoulder as he melted a final piece of rock leaving an opening wide enough for a person. He had heard Tony land behind him. "Karen picked up life signs inside the cave."

Tony stepped through the opening. "Stay here." Knowing Johnny would comply he walked further into the cave, following Peter's transponder. It was moving in his direction which he hoped was a good sign. "FRIDAY, how many life signs are you picking up?"

"Eight plus Peter."

Tony picked up his pace.

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Peter felt the young girl clinging to his back shift slightly. He was glad she was able to hold on since both of his arms were currently occupied. He looked down at the older girl that had been unconscious when he found them. Eight girls. He guessed the oldest one was only seventeen or eighteen. His dad's voice came through his mask, the cave walls distorting the message. "Kid, you ok?"

"I'm bringing eight girls out. Let T'Challa know a couple of them need medical attention." The cave walls caused too much interference and he knew the message had come across as garbled. He looked over at the other six girls following him to make sure they were all still there. He saw his dad's transponder and knew he wasn't too far ahead in the tunnel.

After rounding two more turns Peter saw a glint of red metal. He realized the girl on his back had also caught sight of it because all the sudden she had a death grip on his neck. "It's ok. He's with me." His assurance did nothing to alleviate her fear as Iron Man came into view. He tensed as the younger girls let out a squeal and hid behind him. "It's ok," he assured again and looked over at his dad as he disengaged the Iron Man mask and helmet.

"It's ok. I'm with him." He reached over and took the girl from Peter's arms allowing Peter to readjust the girl on his back and scoop two others. Leading the way, he glanced back to make sure Peter had the rest of them in tow.

Stepping out into the moonlit night, Peter passed one of the girls off to Johnny. The fighting had subdued for the most part. He glanced down at the charred bodies littered around the cave entrance and felt a wave of guilt at the idea that he had left Johnny to fight them alone. He felt a gentle slap on the back of his head. He turned and looked at Johnny.

"You're an idiot." He shifted the girl on his hip and looked around at the other girls. "They are more important." He stepped over one of the bodies on the path as he followed Tony down the path. "That wasn't a problem," he added pointedly.

Peter grinned to himself as Johnny turned his attention to the girl he was carrying, putting a flame in his hand to act as a nightlight. Peter ushered the other girls in front of him, following them down the path. Karen had already let him know that Davis, Bobby, and Wyatt had not been hurt but he still let out a sigh of relief when he saw them.

Okoye walked over to Peter as he put one of the girls he was holding down. She looked at the girl still clinging to Peter's neck. "Come with me little one."

Peter felt the grasp around his neck relax but only a little. He smiled to himself knowing what the end result of this interaction was going to be. During the first mission to Wakanda he had been astonished at the fighting ability of the Dora Milaje. Any one of them probably could take him in a fight. Partially because his jaw dropped any time he saw them fight, but nonetheless they were still fierce. It was the other side that he found more remarkable though.

Okoye held one hand out to the little girl while the other one was firmly clasped around her spear. She was patient. She has done this more than once. Slowly, one little hand reached out and rested fingers in Okoye's hand. The other hand was still firmly gripped around Peter's neck.

Peter glanced back at the girl knowing she was staring at Okoye's spear. Most of these girls came from small villages and had never seen the likes of the Dora Milaje. Seeing these impossibly strong women after what the girls had undoubtedly experienced was mind blowing to them and it gave them hope. He felt the grip around his neck relax a little bit more as the girl slowly slipped down Peter's back and grasped Okoye's hand. Okoye nodded to Peter as she led the girl to where the other girls were being examined for injuries.

Peter walked over to his team. None of them looked worse for wear. He could hear the additional Wakandan shuttles approaching. The girls and wounded would be loaded first. T'Challa and some of the other warriors would load the prisoners in one. Peter, his team, and Tony would more than likely be in the last shuttle, along with any remaining warriors. It was a successful mission. One warlord down, multiple others to go.

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_One Year Later_

After all this time Peter still hated press conferences. He had gotten a little bit better after the first couple. At least he didn't feel like he wanted to throw up. But he still hated them. Too many people talking at once. He always felt like they were yelling at him. He glanced around the room. His dad was busy entertaining Morgan. MJ and Pepper were going over last minute notes. MJ had taken over more and more of the press conferences. It was all part of the transition. Tony and Pepper weren't fully retiring but they had both started taking a back seat to MJ and Peter. Peter still had to deal with all of the technical questions but for the most part MJ handled the rest of it. And she was good at it. He would forever be thankful that she could manage reporters almost as good as Pepper.

The last press conference still made him laugh. One of the reporters kept asking when Peter and MJ were getting married. After the first time MJ had refused to answer the question the reporter had the nerve to keep pushing. MJ verbally destroyed him, but he had unbelievably asked a third time. At that point MJ told him to leave. And then proceeded to stand at the podium not saying a word for two solid minutes until the rest of the reporters forced him to leave. It was by far his favorite press conference.

This one would hopefully be a little better than the run of the mill press conference. It was an update on the Wakanda / SI initiative and announcing an expansion into South America. The model had worked so well in Africa they were planning to replicate it across the globe. These were the fun press conferences.

There was always a running bet between the four of them as to which questions would be asked. It was questions like 'when are MJ and Peter getting married', 'when was Pepper fully stepping down', 'was Tony retiring from Iron Man'. Peter had added a new one to the pool - 'Is Peter Spider-Man'. There had been increased discussion online that was spreading out into the general news at this point. Who was Spider-Man? Peter's name had come up more than once. Miles was leaving for college next week so he didn't have to worry about outing him. He had talked to MJ at length about it. They both understood what it meant. MJ was on board with any decision he made. So were his dad and Pepper. If you had asked him last night what his answer would be he couldn't have told you. He looked over at the door as Happy walked in to give them a 2 minute warning. He straightened his sleeves and looked over at MJ. If asked today, he thought he knew what his answer would be. Of course it could change in the moment too.

_The truth? I am Spider-Man_

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**A/N - when I started this I had no idea it would run this lengthy or involve so many characters. It was merely an attempt at getting the scenes out of my head. Endgame and Far From Home made me sad so this was almost cathartic. A happy Peter and a not dead Tony. These last couple chapters have taken me forever to write - I think partially because I knew this is where this story ended. Not their story, just this story. If you made it this far I hope it was enjoyable! And I hope you forgive the typos...I think there's at least one in every chapter. It didn't matter how many times I proofed it, I'd miss something. For anyone interested, following are what I'm calling "Fun Facts". No where near as interesting as the tidbits that are included in jerseydanielgibsons's 'The Avengers: Disney Princess Edition' (it's a phenomenal read...go check it out).**

**Fun facts**

* the only named characters not from Marvel are teachers, Bucky's nurse, and the boy from the village (whose name I took a little bit of a spelling liberty with and if I had spelled it right means 'Return of the Father'...at least according to the website I looked it up on).

* At this point I'm going to be really disappointed if Wyatt doesn't make his way into the MCU. He is now my favorite secondary marvel character that doesn't currently exist in the MCU.

* I tweaked some backstories of the Marvel characters to make them work but for the most part there's at least elements of their Marvel backstory in this story.

* Davis got included purely because I couldn't figure out how to get them from Boston to New York during the prison breakout. In the comics, he's not a big character. I used some of his backstory, not all of it. I'm glad I ended up with five because it made it easier to split them up in different ways.

* Jennifer's last name is Walters...as in She-Hulk...who was Wyatt's girlfriend in some of the comics so maybe there's hope for Wyatt showing up with the She-Hulk Disney show. I had some thought to having her exposed to gamma radiation during the fight at Rikers but opted to leave her and MJ out of it.

* I'm very visual so a lot of the scenes are based on pictures - Peter cutting his hair after the accident was brought on by Tom Holland's buzz cut for the movie he was filming with the Russo Brothers. Tony putting his DNA in after seeing a picture of himself Peter's age was because of some pic floating around with half of RDJ's younger face with half of Tom Holland's (don't care if it's a manip or not it's still a visual stuck in my head). Peter holding Morgan the day she was born while wearing the Spider Suit...Tom Holland holding a baby on one of the cast visits to a hospital.

* "Shut up" from chapter 42 is a very small call out to Chaos Walking - go read the books and then go read 'Awake' by shewritesit18. Don't skip the books because it won't make sense. Shewritesit18 does an amazing job writing in the same 'voice' as the books and the story is a phenomenal addition to the books. (The tie in...Tom Holland is one of the leads in the upcoming movie)

* Firebrand - I love Iron Man Armored Adventures (my kids are young enough/old enough where they watched the show when it was on) - Firebrand is a character in one of the episodes. It's one of my favorite episodes. This is not that Firebrand. When I was looking at fire options there was an Amanda that was one of the four or five Firebrands in Marvel's history. Zero backstory so the character is Marvel's and I filled in the blanks. Her father in the story was one of the other Firebrands.

* Original last chapter was the one where Peter gives Miles a suit. I'm kinda glad I kept going because I ended up really liking Peter's team although it completely turned into a story of its own.

* I had a couple other "scenes" in my head...one where Bucky went back to the children's hospital and interacted with the little boy again. A couple Steve and Natasha scenes (who, by the way, are together in this story/AU although I never made it a thing). One involving patents, Peter and SI. One with a school civics project on the accords (would have brought Flash into the mix). I opted not to do them for various reasons - mainly because it didn't move Tony and Peter's relationship forward.

* There were also some story lines that did not end up going the way I planned. The alien thing was the first one (I had this great line in my head for Peter in dealing with the Skrull's..."In my defense...I didn't know they were aliens"), the whole Richard Parker thing was another. I really liked the idea of someone masquerading as Richard Parker and that original part of the storyline was a little different and much longer but I realized in the middle of it that I had a HUGE plot hole that I couldn't work my way out of so I had to change it.

* Originally there was a longer subplot story where Peter and Bucky go to Wakanda to rescue MJ and Nakia with T'Challa. I opted to leave it out because again, it didn't do anything to move Peter and Tony's relationship forward and it's really hard to keep up with this many characters!

* Speaking of too many characters...I was on the fence about bringing Thor, Loki, and Bruce back around Bleed Through. I opted to leave them out because again it's REALLY hard to keep up with everyone. Stay tuned though. I think I have a short story planned out. 'Bleed Through 2023'!

* Side note - Medical webs...the stuff that Tony sprays on his wound at the end of Infinity War seems an awful lot like web fluid to me...

* Another side note...If nanotech worked on everyone why doesn't Rhodey have it (wouldn't it be easier - unless I missed it in Endgame), thus was born the whole 'brains wired differently' which ultimately led to Peter's whole electricity thing.

* The Odyssey is a bar that was my favorite haunt in college. I wanted them to have a place that they always went to, where they were known. It's also a book I had to read no fewer than three times in school (curriculum change and different schools) which I still hate to this day, but when I looked up the themes from the book, a lot of them fit. A hero's journey, revenge, justice and punishment, fate vs free will.

* Bleed Through and the multiverse - I've toyed with the idea of glimpses into the different multiverses created. In my head Tony and Peter always find each other, regardless of the circumstances leading up to it.

* The title - I was three or four chapters into this before I could figure out a title and post it. It may have been the hardest part. When I finally settled on it I realized I could make it fit multiple things. Tony's need to see himself as worthy and the hero he is, Peter's need for a father figure, Peter's need to see himself as a hero, Steve and Tony's need to reconcile their relationship, etc, etc.

* I am not a May fan - at least not in the MCU. But I also didn't want sad Peter so I didn't kill her in the accident but she is definitely missing in this story! Oddly enough I do like May with Happy...

* The worst chapters to write were the ones I call the bridge chapters. The ones that are in between two story arcs that get you out of one section and set up the next one. They're the ones that would take me days to write. I did not have as many 'bridge' chapters early on which is why it felt more choppy.

* Peter lost a year...it happened sometime in college. He should have been 18 not 19. I wanted to get him and MJ talking future and it felt a little off at 18. I had already slipped up and called them all 19 so I just let it go. FYI...I have a document that has a ginormous timeline. It's the only way I could keep track of everything.

* You all have no idea how much reviews are appreciated unless you're writing. Not only does it just make you feel good that people are reading but sometimes it also helps to see how other people are reading certain scenes or what they're picking up on most. As someone who doesn't write a lot, it was always interesting to see what aspect people commented on and what they didn't. I could make course corrections when I realized something wasn't coming across the way I intended. I owe a HUGE thanks to Belbelanne and shewritesit18...I'm pretty sure I guilted them into leaving a review for every single chapter. There are some others that hung in there a long time too! Also kudos to the readers who picked this thing up somewhere around chapter 100 and finished the whole thing in a couple sittings. It got a little out of control...


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